Hiroshima

What's wrong with Japan? There was something seriously amiss today: the bullet train was 15 minutes late into Hiroshima and the local rush-hour service (which was packed to the rafters) to Miyajimaguchi, 6 stops down the line, was the slowest ride in the world.


The train from Kurashiki to Okayama

We were glad to leave our hotel in Kurashiki this morning. With its peeling wallpaper and a hotel room of condensed proportions (no space for the proverbial cat), we were looking forward to better things down in Western Honshu. We caught the rapid service back to Okayama where we had a 20-minute wait for the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Hiroshima, just 45 minutes away. We should have suspected something was wrong when the chap in the queue for the train (yes they even form orderly lines for the train doors here in Japan) told us that the train would be going no further than Hiroshima because of flooding further west.


Old tram in Hiroshima

As I already mentioned, our train was 15 minutes late, though they didn't say that, we were simply "behind schedule". Our aim when we arrived at Hiroshima was to dump our heavy bags in a "coin locker" for 600 yen and check out Hiroshima, before we moved on to the backpackers hostel across the sound from the island of Miyajima.

I was immediately attracted to the place. Hiroshima you see, was the first town that we had encountered trams (as if this country doesn't have enough public transport systems). Some older, some newer, but never older than 65 years.

We boarded the number 6 tram which took us through town and dropped us off at the famous T-bridge, which was the Americans' target when they unleashed their cataclysmic atomic bomb on Hiroshima. 100 yards away is the famous A-bomb dome, the building at the epicentre of the blast which was miraculously left standing on 6 August 1945.


The A-dome

There’s not many places I've been to which have left quite such a sobering impression on me as Hiroshima. Perhaps only Auschwitz. The name Hiroshima - like Auschwitz - will be forever associated with the horrors and futility of war and human suffering. The Hiroshima Peace Museum is located near the shell of the A-bomb dome and gives a balanced account of the events leading up to and in the aftermath of the bombing using some chilling exhibits. More depressing are the displays showing the development of even more destructive weapons in the years since. No wonder the city fathers and the ever dwindling number of survivors, or hibakusha, are unceasing in their efforts to promote world peace and a nuclear-free future. When you've been here, it just seems so logical. Sobering indeed.



Akemi, our "volunteer guide"

Before we headed to the Peace Musuem, we were approached by Akemi, a charming Japanese lady who was keen to tell us about the war history of Hiroshima as a volunteer guide. "Please, I wish to improve my English". She had been in Chester, she said, but when I inquired it had only been for 6 days. Not long enough, I said, to work on her English - she needed 6 months, or at least that's what I told her if she wanted to advance her English. Well, she was a good soul, and she told us a lot about the "A-bomb" accompanied by her information pack.

After the Peace Museum, we headed off for Hiroshima Castle, which of course had been razed in the wake of the atomic explosion. 99% of all buildings within 3 kilometres of the dome had been wiped from the face of the earth. So the reconstructed castle tower, which looked immaculate from the outside, was a concrete shell on the inside - today a modern museum telling the history of the city and the region.


Hiroshima castle

Another major attraction in the city is Shukkei-en. We have seen many gardens, but this one was perfectly landscaped with vistas in miniature, difficult to capture on camera. Likewise, it was totally destroyed by the bomb, but remarkably many of the trees and plants survived to blossom again the following year.


Shukkei-en

We headed off to the station in search of food and then board the local train to Miyjimaguchi, the mainland ferry terminal for ferries to Miyajima. The girl at Tourist Information had told us to catch the train rather than the tram: it was not only quicker (half an hour instead of an hour), but - because we had JR passes - it would cost us nothing. Nevertheless, something was up: I spotted three trams pass by on the parallel track as our own JR train crawled and crawled to our intended destination. Apparently, this area too had suffered from a deluge of rain the night before.

The forecast for the weekend is sun. I am holding my breath.

Hiroshima views