Japan: Hiroshima

Friday, June 16, 2023, Hiroshima, Japan

We got into Hiroshima at 10:30 am. The first thing we saw was the Tower of Paradise, a monument of glory, peace, and prosperity.


Tower of Paradise at the cruise port


The most significant thing to do in Hiroshima is to visit the Peace Park. It is the site where the atomic bomb exploded at the end of WWII. We took the free ship shuttle to the Hiroshima Prefectoral Office and walked about a mile along the river to the park. There were skeletal remains of a blasted out building with a dome. Rubble and twisted metal was left in place. It was sobering to look at, to say the least.



We continued on to the children’s memorial area, in honor of the children who died in the blast, a place to create paper artwork, with thousands of folded colorful origami cranes. We rang the Bell of Peace. We saw the Flame of Peace, which is scheduled to burn until all nuclear weapons are eliminated. 

School children at Peace Park

Colorful art work at the children’s memorial

After some debate about whether we were emotionally prepared, we entered the museum. The photographs, displays and remnants keep the enormity of this event from being forgotten. Many young people displayed their emotions. We saw tour groups from the ship and many groups of young students passing through the museum, making our exit difficult. We decided not to include photos of the displays here.

It was a busy Friday at the Peace Park museum

This safe made it through the blast, but the contents did not

We left the park and walked towards a vegan dessert place which we never found despite a couple of well-meaning attempts by locals to help us. We got close enough to the shuttle pick-up point for Charlie to feel comfortable and looked for lunch. After surveying 8 floors, we ended up on floor zero at a modest Asian place with fried rice and pork belly noodles. Thanks to Google translate, we were able to order. Authentic and delicious.


Arched walkways are popular in Japan

Jill decompressing after our experience at the Peace Park

Maybe we should adopt this style of crosswalk in the US

 Hiroshima is a rebuilt and prosperous city

Our modest lunch restaurant. We sat next to another couple from the ship.

All aboard was 3:30 pm, so we made tracks back to the shuttle amid the large city, happy we didn’t get lost.

The ship was late leaving again, an hour this time. One couple didn’t know the original 7:00 pm departure had been moved up to 4:45 pm and were desperately trying to get on board after the gangplank had been stowed away. The man jumped aboard; the woman wouldn’t do it, so they got a small plank in place for her. We could imagine how they felt.

One more check of the elevators was done during the delay, and apparently went well.

Another gorgeous sunset




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