Hiroshima

This morning we left Okayama for Hiroshima on the 10 o’clock train and by 11 we had dropped our cases at our new hotel, having caught a tram from  Hiroshima station that dropped us right outside, and were heading to the Peace Memorial Park.

We stopped for a coffee in a branch of Tully’s in one of the subway passages the Japanese do so well and came up right in front of what is now known as The A-Dome, the building that famously (sort of) survived the atomic bomb that laid waste all around it.

Despite the large number of tourists, a very quiet and sombre mood pervaded the Park. No-one could help but be moved by the thought of 200,000 people being wiped out instantaneously.

The main blip doesn’t show the Dome as clearly as others I took, due to the buildings directly behind, but I liked the heron which seemed to be standing solemnly to attention in front of it 

Fittingly, a gentle rain began to fall as we wandered amongst the various memorials including the Cenotaph (with the A-Dome framed in the distance) and The Flame of Peace, which the people of Hiroshima have vowed will not be extinguished until all nuclear weapons have been destroyed. I fear they are going to need a lot more fuel for some time yet. Both are in extras.

I have never fully understood the need to take selfies in front of famous landmarks (do people feel that they haven’t really been there unless they’re in the picture?) but it did seem even more inappropriate in such a solemn place.

Afterwards we visited Hiroshima Castle which, like Okayama, hosted an interesting exhibition on the history of the City and the nearby Shokkein Gardens where we saw more blossom in one place than we’ve seen anywhere.

In the evening we had dinner at Okonomi-mura, a 4 storey building that houses a cooperative of former market stalls, all specialising in Okonomiyaki, who moved off the streets and into the building 60 years ago and are still going strong with customers queuing to sit at counters around the kitchen where the chefs put on extravagant displays of their cooking skills.

It was great fun and very different to the version we had in Kyoto but equally tasty.