Hiroshima December 9 2006

Harumi, our friend and Japanese teacher in Australia, was visiting her family in Hiroshima and invited us to visit her. Not only did her parents kindly feed us and give us a bed for the night, but harumi gave us a terrific tour of Hiroshima and Miyajima and our special thanks to her for finding us the best coffee we have yet had in Japan.

The photos of our trip to Miyajima on the 8th are here

Compared to Nagoya, Hiroshima felt more relaxed and is definitely prettier, with wider streets and more trees. Harumi's father told us that trees are important to Hiroshima and Peace park contains a tree which although deeply scarred by the bomb, was able to grow again..

THe Atomic Bomb memorial Museum

The museum in the heart of Hiroshima is an emotional experience and tells a brutal story of death with facts, truths and a strong anti-bomb message. The panels on the walls explain the story of how, why, when and who.


Diorama from the Peace Memorial Museum of the centre of Hiroshima after the bomb. You can see a red marker near the white building on the left hand side, that is the location of the actual detonation. The T-shaped bridge at the bottom is thought to be the aiming point. The Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall is the ruin to the left. It still exists as a ruin as a memorial.


Diorama from the Peace Memorial Museum of the centre of Hiroshima before the bomb. The Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall is the green roofed building in the bottom right of the photo


A preserved watch, frozen at 8:15 when the bomb went off above the city





Copies of letters from Hiroshima's mayors





paper cranes folded by Sadako Sasaki who died aged 12 in 1954 from leukemia caused by atomic bomb. A friend told her of a legend that a person who folds 1000 cranes is granted a wish. In hospital, Sadako folded cranes until she died, wishing that she would be better and that all similar suffering would end.

The story of Sadako's struggle became famous in Japan and around the world and paper cranes now come from around the world. You can contribute, instructions on how to fold and where to mail cranes are at www.sadako.org .

Heiwa Koen (Peace Park)

Just Outside the museum is heiwa koen, which contains many memorials to those who died in the bomb blast.

Children's Peace memorial / Heiwa Koen (Peace Park)

Inspired by the story of Sadako Sasaki Heiwa koen contains a Children's memorial


There are many folded cranes








The bell at the children's peace memorial

Heiwa Koen (Peace Park)



Atomic Bomb memorial mound. The cinerarium in the mound contains the cremated remains of many of the victims


Atomic Bomb memorial mound


The cenotaph contains the names of all the Japanese victims of the bomb


Trees around the cenotaph are sculptured as is they are melting.


Peace bell


Industrial Promotion Hall/ atomic bomb dome across the river from the peace bell and Heiwa Koen. Now a UNESCO World Heritage site


Photo from the peace museum, looking back over heiwa park (the centre island), with th Industrial Promotion Hall on the left.

Okonomiyaki for Lunch

Hiroshima is known for a style of Okonomiyaki where the Okonomiyaki is created in cooked with various layers of foods as opposed to the Kansai method where all the ingredients are mixed together and then cooked.


Cooking the Okonomiyaki with different layers


Okonomiyaki with noodles


My Okonomiyaki with Soba noodles


Harumi, Pam and I


The menu and prices in Japanese. (we were handed an english menu) . The first item is oolong (u-ron) tea? for 1100 Yen and second item is beer (Bi-ru) for 400 yen.
四 is 4, 五 is 5, 八 is 8

Nozomi shinkansen


The Shinkansen going home. The Nozomi is the express shinkansen and takes around two and a half hours to travel the 420 kilometers between Hiroshima and Nagoya





miyajima
Also see the Miyajima page. Miyajima is just outside Hiroshima and we visited it the day before.






May 2007 - Hiroshima and Miyajima

We went for another one day visit to Hiroshima and Miya-jima as day 8 of our mothers visit. You can see of the photos here.


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