The plan was to be out the door by nine, but we were late (as usual).
Hiroshima trams
Photo by Stu
Caught the JR train to Miyajima-guchi, as we'd already paid for that, and it's only 25 minutes instead of nearly an hour for the tram. Then walked down and hopped on the JR ferry across to Miyajima (we were all set to buy tickets but the ticket dude said it was free with a JR pass.. score!).
Sculpture outside the ferry terminal at Miyajimaguchi
On the ferry over to Miyajima
Itsukushima Shrine and Tori
Itsukushima Shrine Tori
As soon as we got off the ferry we met the local deer population. Natto wanted to be friends with all of them. Or at least take photos of them all ;) They *were* pretty cool. Had a look at the map before wandering around to see the Itsukushima Shrine tori. Walked up to see the five storey pagoda. Then wandered round the back of Itsukushima looking at stuff. We might have gone in but we didn't really have the time in the end. We all took heaps of photos of the stuff that we did see heh. Didn't get time to look at everything that was there either.
There were lots of deer at Miyajima
Itsukushima Shrine's Stone Torii
Deer joined in on this group photo!
Itsukushima Shrine Tori
Itsukushima Shrine
Cherry blossoms in front of the Five Storey Pagoda
Five Storey Pagoda
Itsukushima Shrine Tori
Itsukushima Shrine
We could easily have spent the entire day there. But we really needed to get back to Hiroshima to see everything else we wanted to. So hopped on another train back (after popping into 7 eleven to pick up some lunch to eat on the train).
Got back to the station then jumped on a tram down to the A-bomb Dome. It was one of the few buildings left standing after the atomic bomb was dropped on the city. It was really sad standing there at basically ground zero. The boys got talking to a guide that was there who was a hibakusha (a-bomb survivor) who was in-utero when the bomb went off, making him one of the youngest survivors.
A-Bomb Dome, formerly the Hiroshima Prefectural Commercial Exhibition Hall
Top of the A-Bomb Dome
This dude is credited as one of the youngest survivors
of the Atomic bomb - he was in utero when it happened
Wandered around the Peace Memorial Park, looking at some of the monuments.
Memorial Tower to the Mobilized Students
Origami paper cranes
Cherry blossoms on the river bank
Children's Peace Monument
Atomic Bomb Memorial Mound
Holds the ashes of 70,000 bomb victims who were unidentified or had
no living relatives to claim them
Flame of Peace
It is said that the fire will burn until the last nuclear weapon is gone
from the earth
Cenotaph for the A-Bomb Victims
Then headed up to the Peace Memorial Museum. It had quite a lot of info about Hiroshima before, during and after the bombing, and didn't try to blame anyone, but was more about the message of peace and anti-nuclear weapons. We spent two hours there but could easily have stayed longer if we'd had the time/energy.
Watch that stopped when the atomic bomb went off
Model of Hiroshima before the blast
Model of Hiroshima after the blast
Hypocentre of the atomic blast
By this time it was raining relatively heavily, and it was getting quite late, so we abandoned plans to go see the castle and caught a tram back to the hotel.
After drying off for a bit and resting, we headed out to try and find some dinner. Found a place called Nakau's which was warm, dry, brightly lit, had lots of seating, and even an English menu. So had a decent Japanese meal there :)
Then back to the hotel to do computery stuff..
Steps walked today: 13492
Photos taken by me: 350
Photos taken by Stu: 206