I went to Hiroshima for four days last week. Its a city that needs little introduction, although today it is of course a very vibrant modern city, not solely characterised by its terrible history.
I got up at 5 on Sunday and got to Hiroshima just after 11am! I travelled alone for the first two days and was joined later on by a friend for the second two. I spent the first day going to a couple of art galleries - one was really good, the other a little thin. And I walked around the city a lot, which made a real change from Tokyo where I spend a lot of time on trains not knowing the geography of the place. After a few hours in Hiroshima, I had located the main streets and was able to orientate myself very easily. They do have a local tram, but I found it easier and more enjoyable to walk.
The next day I spent the whole day in the peace museum and peace park. It was indeed very sobering but they have really hit the spot in terms of information, shock value and sensitivity. I think it is a very respectful and well considered museum. There is a lot of first-hand accounts of the bombing, which I found the most powerful, but they were also keen to point out that Japan was not just a victim during the war. The surrounding park is a lovely place - it is very quiet, away from the main noise of the city, very green and has a number of memorial buildings and stones. The most interesting was the Childrens memorial. I didn't know that at the time of the bombing, many high school aged children were outside at work clearing and demolishing old wooden houses because of the threat from airraids. Sadly, therefore they were some of the worst hit victims. There are a great number of burnt scraps of clothes, lunchboxes and personal items on show in the museum from some of these children, along with testimonies showing how they struggled with horrendous injuries to find their families.
There is one girl who epitomises, in the minds of the Japanese people, the struggle of the children who survived the bomb but who were exposed to radiation and later died of leukemia. A ten year old girl was diagnosed in the early 1950s with leukemia and decided that if she could fold 1000 paper origami cranes (the symbol of longevity in Japan), she would be cured from her illness. She died before she reached her target but since then schoolchildren all across Japan now fold cranes and send them to Hiroshima. There are littlerally thousands upon thousands of them outside the childrens memorial and in other areas of the peace park.
The A-bomb dome, as it is commonly known, is also a very thought-provoking place. It was built around 1915 as an International Promotions centre and was one of few buildings not to be completely destroyed by the bomb, despite being very close to the epicentre. It is still a totally gutted structure - with the metal girders bent and the stones singed. It was going to be demolished but later decided that it should remain standing as a reminder of the disaster. Its now a UNESCO world heritage site and has had work done to preserve it as such.
The follwoing day Clare came to Hiroshima and we went back to the Museum of Contemporary Art because I wanted to go see the temporary exhibition they had on - contemporary leading animators. It was wonderful - my favourite was a 'wallace and gromit' style plasticene animation of a little blue and yellow worm called 'Knacki' as seen on Japanese TV. Its a childrens program really but full of humour and references from contemporary films.
Then later that evening we watched a film at the cinema - Syrianna - which I didn't follow. And then to 'Okonomiyaki Mura' or Okonomiyaki village. Okonomiyaki is a local speciality rather like a big stuffed pancake - cabbage, bacon, eels, seaweed and spring onions, covered in a sauce similar to barbecue sauce. Its delicious and very very very filling. I could barely move after leaving the restaurant! We spent a couple of hours after that doing Karaoke before heading back to the hotel.
On Wednesday, we got up early to go to 'Miyajima' which is on an island off the coast of Hiroshima. It is widely considered to be one of the top 3 most beautiful sights in Japan and I can see why. There is a shrine called 'Itsukushima' shrine (also a world heritage site) with a 'Tori' or gate which appears to be floating in the water at high tide. It was high tide but unfortunately it rained the whole day, which didn't really spoil it too much though. In fact the mist on the top of the mountains gave it a very moody atmosphere, very beautiful.
We had a guide - a friend of a friend from Tokyo and I spoke mostly Japanese all day to him and felt very proud! We didn't have time to do the walk up onto Misesan - a small mountain on the island, but the views wouldn't have been anything special that day anyway.
Returned to Hiroshima station and got the bullet train back to Tokyo - it took four hours and I got home late, tired and happy! A good week and a very good holiday. Hiroshima should be visited by all travellers to Japan. It is very thought provoking and I hope it will be remembered for a long time to come.
Next weekend the whole of Japan will go mad for the Cherry Blossom season - it is the start of warm spring weather and people celebrate by having picnics under the cherry blossom trees. I can't wait, it is supposed to be very beautiful (and also very drunken apparently)!
p.s. as you can see I have finally started getting myself organised enough to put some of my photos here for you all to see. More to follow soon!
