Day 9

N.B. This was written shortly after I returned and will be rewritten as and when I get time.

For the excursion day, a lot of us had decided to head out to Hiroshima and make use of our JR Rail Pass and to use the Shinkansen again. This was mainly on the advice of Gemma who had visited before and said that Hiroshima was spectacular, so it was pretty much decided.

I managed to snap some photos of the awe-inspiring Kyoto station before we headed out.

At 11 stories high it’s this amazing space filled with shops and people and restaurants. The train to Hiroshima was a couple of hours, but on the way a few of us decided to go to Miyajima island just outside of Hiroshima first, and then do the peace museum and park afterwards.

A quick ferry journey (covered on the Rail Pass again) and we landed on the sacred island of Miyajima with one of the most photographed spots in Japan, the so-called “floating” Tori gate.

The entire island is designated a sacred island, meaning that no one is allowed to be born there or die there (or interned), so there are no maternity wards or morgues / cemeteries. This also means that the animals and trees are sacred and not allowed to be harmed or killed / felled.

The most surprising thing about this is the tame deer which wander the lower part of the island. Signs tell you to stay away from the ones with antlers (no arguments here), but otherwise they just sleep and wander about to be petted. The island is so picturesque, especially in the bright sunshine. After wandering the port for a while, we headed up the cable car to the top of the main mountain where there was a monkey sanctuary. The monkeys all had bright red bums, and the males had huge bright red testicles. We had to leave our bags in some free lockers otherwise the monkeys apparently pinch stuff from your bag.

The views from the top of the mountain were just breathtaking, as my (lame) panorama shows.

Heading back down the mountain we had a look around one of the local shrines before catching the ferry back to Hiroshima for the afternoon.

Hiroshima is a lovely city and like Kyoto, manages to have a very good “village” type feel to it without feeling too urbanised. The Peace Park houses the A-Bomb dome, the preserved remainder of the bomb that was dropped.

The next monument was to a little girl who suffered radiation poisoning and believed in the old tale of making a thousand cranes would make your wish come true. Unfortunately she died, but every year, hundreds of thousands of cranes are sent into the memorial, all of them displayed in huge racks near the monument.

The next two memorials are the Eternal Flame and the Cenotaph. The Eternal Flame will burn until all nuclear weapons are dismantled, while the Cenotaph covers the book which, updated yearly, contains a list of all the people who died because the A-Bomb, regardless of nationality.

The Peace Museum I didn’t take any photos of because it really wasn’t worth it. It is one of the most moving places I’ve ever been to, and I get a bit teary just writing about it. It’s completely unbiased and explains about Hiroshima before, after and during the bomb, all about the bomb itself and nuclear weapons as well as who has them, who’s tested them. The final part of the museum is a collection of memorabilia from the bomb site, things like a tricycle or a lunch box, even to things like the skin and fingernails of a child, kept by the mother.

It’s such a moving place, and at the end of it you can’t help but be certain that nuclear weapons should never, ever be used anywhere else again. I just kept thinking that if world leaders saw this place that we’d get some progress, unfortunately a lot of them have been there, and still nuclear weapons are being made. I really can’t recommend enough that if you get a chance to go there and experience it, it doesn’t point fingers or feel false. After leaving the museum and seeing the devastation, you really get a better outlook on the city and why it feels the way it does, simply because they built it up from nothing.

Heading back to Kyoto, a few of us had some beers and talked for a bit before heading off to bed.