“All we are saying is give peace a chance”

One completely stress free 30 minute taxi ride later we arrived at Odawara station, safe and dry because now that we were leaving, the rain had stopped. Our journey to Hiroshima was 464 miles and took just over 3hrs 35mins by bullet train. So off we went to buy our snacks at one of the many convenience stores that populate Japan. They have the most amazing array of snacks and sandwiches – chocolate, mint chocolate and whipped cream anyone? Not healthy enough then try the fruit salad and whipped cream. There are more normal fillings such as egg mayonnaise and they also sell soft boiled eggs although we’ve not tried these yet to see if they are genuinely still soft. We have tended to go for one of the Japanese rice snacks and I’m beginning to look like an onigiri – a Japanese rice ball. The two we have tended to eat are the carrot and mushroom and the seaweed wrapped tuna mayonnaise. Understanding that Japanese cuisine uses a lot of meat/fish stock for flavour we have to beware as even innocently named snacks such as a “pickled plum” onigiri can contain squid or pork. We enter each convenience store with our phone’s camera primed for action on “translate”

As tourists we were amazed by the Shinkansen as it zoomed through the station and there were lines of us at the platform edge taking photos/video – my video is hereThis was much to the amusement of the little old ladies on the platform who were having a good chuckle at us. Leaving Odawara behind we passed through a lot of industrial areas on the coast and many simple low level housing/flats and as we approached Hiroshima, the sun made an appearance. Helpfully our next hotel was at Hiroshima station, and within 20 paces of a Pokemon store!

We dedicated our whole afternoon to the history of Hiroshima. The museum is a wonderful place to start and you can easily spend an hour in here. There is an excellent film at the beginning of the museum which includes deeply moving interviews with the hibakusha – the survivors. I didn’t realise until now that the bomb detonated ~2000 ft above the ground which caused more damage at the time but also meant that the earth was not saturated with radiation like at Chernobyl meaning that the radiation cleared more rapidly. The focus of the museum is about the impact of the blast, promoting peace and understanding and not about accountability or blame. The grounds, monuments and gardens all have the same ethos with the peace flame lit in 1964 burning “until the day when all such weapons shall have disappeared from earth”. I rang the Bell of Peace, the rod strikes on the atomic symbol etched onto the bell and I truly hope that the sounds of peace “ring to all corners of the earth to meet the ear of every man” because if ever there was a time that the world needed it, it is now. Central to the memorial is the Genbaku or A Bomb dome, the only structure left standing. It was the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall and has been left exactly as it was. I found the rubble around it particularly poignant.

More than the serenity of the memorial park and gardens, the vibrancy of modern day Hiroshima is a symbol of hope and regeneration after such devastation. There is a very youthful vibe with many gaming stores and Halloween is really big here look at all the tat in the Taito store Consumerism and collectables are thriving here – even the young and trendy sport them day and night. Even the guardrail holders at roadworks are not your standard. The primary schoolchildren in their uniforms, hats and matching backpacks that were larger than them were just so adorable. They were all so independent travelling around on their own. Our hotel here was the most technologically advanced so far and Steven made a new BFF at breakfast – say hello to him hereSpeaking of breakfast, they had an ice cream station . . .

No visit to Hiroshima is complete without a day trip to Miyajima island to see the giant Torii gate, Itsukushima shrine, the wild deer and to ride the cable car or Ropeway as they call them here up Misen Mountain. Like the Torii gate the Itsukushima shrine main buildings are built over water. There is an orderly queue to take your selfie at the prime spot in front of the gate. For non-selfie snappers there are alternative locations but all photographers are hindered by the number of boats that want to take their (over)paying passengers through the gate.

The deer roam wild here and are easily encountered the minute you get off the ferry as they are on the beach as well as the beautiful woods that you walk through to get to the ropeway. We opted to walk the 30 minutes to the ropeway and the scenery was stunning – deer, koi carp and old houses amongst the trees. This ropeway is a huge attraction and it took us ~45 minutes of queuing on the 100 steps leading up to it – do the maths – 100 steps wide enough for 2-4 people on each and 6 people in a cable car. We started queuing at 11:50 and the ride is about 30 minutes so when we got to the top at around 13:00 we saw that the queues to come down were just as long. Signs all over the place document the time of the last cable car down and warning you that if you don’t make it you will be left to walk down, and I believe them! If you want to know what you will face if you don’t make it in time then watch the final part of our descent here

The cable car ride takes you over the forest and the shape and colour of the trees with the seascape surrounding it make you feel so infinitesimally small. Once at the top you get the full picture of the surrounding sea and the platforms that you can see scattered around are oyster farms. See the video here. Once you get to the top there are shrines to visit but the attraction to me was the Reika-do Eternal Fire Hall in which the “Kiezu no hi”, Eternal flame, burns. Allegedly Kobo Daishi is said to have lit the flame in 806 and it has been burning ever since and it is the source of the Flame of Peace in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. It is advertised as a mere 20 minute walk, being halfway to the summit which is only 100m higher than the ropeway exit. Now this is not a moan about the weather, I wouldn’t dare do that again, but today was the hottest and sunniest day so far, 20°C with a cloudless sky. The last I heard from Steven was “let’s both go at our own paces”. The first part lures you into a false sense of security as it is down hill for ~5-7 minutes and then it gets tough going up hill and for those of us with short legs some of the steps are quite deep. After a bit I turned round to talk to Steven but received a text “meet you at the cable car entrance when you’ve finished”. Great – and he’s fitter than me. I was not alone – the walk was littered by individuals huffing, puffing and resting and in truth it became more a challenge for me to overcome rather than a desire to see the flame. However as the photos prove, after 25 minutes I made it. The monk you see in one of the photos puts the candles in the flame. If it’s any consolation it’s only 16 minutes coming back. For the completely insane you can carry on and climb to the summit of the mountain – advertised as a further 10 – 15 minutes

Thankfully the queue to descend had evaporate and once at the bottom we meandered through all the old streets looking at all the distinctive Japanese wares that I fell in love with and the weird and wonderful food that we couldn’t eat, not that I’d want to even if I could – octopus balls anyone? However once back at the hotel and out for the evening we made our way to a restaurant recommended by Howard and Benita so that we could eat a vegetarian version of the Hiroshima speciality dish, Okonomyaki. One tram ride and we found it first time. We are still amazed with ourselves when we find ourselves at our intended destination! Unfortunately there was a 90 minutes queue. We were too hungry for that and Happy Cow rescued us with an Indian restaurant round the corner. There was still a 20 minute queue by the time we’d finished our curry.

And with that our time in Hiroshima is over. Our luggage has departed for Kyoto and so must we. Kyoto here we come . . .