My Japan Journey: Hiroshima

After an eventful five day stay in Tokyo we caught the bullet train and travelled 4 hours south of Tokyo to Hiroshima. To be frank, I loved Tokyo but I was glad to be leaving the hustle and bustle of the world’s most populous city for somewhere a little bit quieter.

Standing strong

Hiroshima is a beautiful green and modern city with numerous branches the Ota River running through the city but Hiroshima is known for its much darker past of being the place where nuclear weapons were first used in warfare.

On August 6th 1945 at 8.15am the USA dropped “Little Boy” on the city - 80,000 people died instantly but the total amount of deaths linked to the bombing is 292,325 due to many fatally wounded dying later and radiation sickness in the months and years following.

The main attraction in Hiroshima is the ‘A-bomb Dome’ it was the only building near the hypocentre left standing and is now a World Heritage Site. I think the Dome is a good analogy of the Japanese people because even after being Nuked, firebombed, hit by tsunamis and having power plant meltdowns they’re still standing and just getting on with life.

Interesting photo of the dome building before 1945:

Devestation after August 6th 1945:

Photo's taken today by me!

The 'A-bomb dome' was originally built in 1915 and known as the 'Hiroshima Commercial Exibition Hall'. It was used for the display and sale of products from the Hiroshima region as well as being used for fairs and cultural events. After the outbreak of war it was taken over and used by various government institutions.

Retro Rail Runners

A peculiar thing you will notice as soon as you step out of Hiroshima station is the eccentric electric public tram (or streetcar if you're north american) system which is a mix of modern trams and trams that literally survived the A-bombing in 1945. It’s like an operational transportation museum. I don’t know whether they do this on purpose to preserve history or just like to penny pinch but either way it’s awesome and gives the city uniqueness.

Photo of one of the older trams I saw.

The tram in the photo is number 1909 but the ones you need to look out for are 651 & 652 because they survived the A-bomb.

Only Okonomiyaki

After seeing the sights we thought we would try out the dish which Hiroshima is famous for - Okonomiyaka , this loosely translates as "what you like, grilled" - i'm told. It's basically a savoury pancake.

My creation:

Hope you enjoyed!

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Thanks, danke, arigatou.

;)

Previous blogs:

My Japan Journey: Tokyo
My Japan Journey: Tokyo continued

Adam. @adammac