4/14 – Miyajima Island and Hiroshima

For our tour today, we fortunately only have 22 people which should make it easier to maneuver, but who can tell. Especially because we have the Arizona contingent who are the ones who tend to wander aimlessly from the group and ask really stupid questions. And the bossy Aussies. And the single camera lady who always runs ahead and is pushy about pictures… oh ….and is sick as a dog. Sigh.

Everyone arrives on time – that’s one thing we definitely have going for us on this tour- at least they are punctual. We have our own private shuttle but we are totally packed in there like sardines. And of course there is only us and the young couple who have on masks. At the train station we watch the bullet trains come and go, then we all line up for our train car. Osamu tells us the seat rows and we are, of course, the first on to get seats on the 2 side. Success! Is anyone surprised? Thought not!

Osamu keeps us busy by teaching us how to make Origami swans – and activity to engage us, but also to use at the Hiroshima memorial – as an offering from our group to world peace. He instructs everyone here and there – and we give up after a couple of minutes. Not normally quitters, it is hard to get his attention and others are more into it than us – so we let them have all his focus!

90 minutes later, we are in Hiroshima being herded onto our full-size bus! Wow! Great surprise. We thought, along with Osamu that we would have a minibus. Luckily now we can all spread out. Sadly though sick camera lady is one row back on the other aisle, hacking up a storm and blowing her nose, with no mask in sight. And we’ve got an hour’s drive to the pier for the ferry to Miyajima! Double masks!!!

Miyajima is considered a sacred island with a shrine that has one of the biggest wooden torii gates in Japan. It is set 200 meters from the Hitasaki shrine, in the water. Which makes for great photos from the ferry. And when the tide goes out you can actually walk to it. Pretty cool. But for the rest of the island, um. Tourist central! Packed, packed, packed! School kids on tour everywhere- hundreds upon hundreds! As well as other tours. And basic tourists. Ay yi yi!

We disembark the ferry and wade through the crowds, the only excitement is watching the free roaming deer – Shikano – meander through the throngs. Sweet. But as Osamu reminds us – don’t touch! We don’t, but we can’t help touching the other tourists, not by choice. It’s just crazy packed. Enough that we put our masks on, and we usually don’t when we are outside. The joys of traveling in 2023. And the worst part us, this is where we are supposed to find lunch! In this mess? Plus, Hiroshima is known for its oysters, so we would love a roasted oyster lunch but we can’t see that happening.

We finally make it to the shrine, after some great views of the gate – then take off on our own to explore and then go find lunch. The shrine itself is beautiful and we do take the time to pray for good health (with these typhoid Marys on the tour, we’re praying at every shrine we can find!!).

Them it is off into the super jam packed town, quickly stopping at the Miyajima brewery, which we had spotted earlier, for fried oysters (at least we can accomplish that!). There was a teeny beer garden behind the kiosk where we lucked into a table to sit and enjoy our incredibly delicious snacks. More meandering ensued, window shopping and snacking – coz no way do we have time to wait for a sit down restaurant. We end up buying an octopus cake – which is in the shape of a hot dog and deep fried to perfection. Haven’t a clue what’s in it – maybe batter? Who knows and who cares, it is also delicious. As a matter if fact, the only disappointment are the little bear pancake like things with strawberry. They looked so good but are little dry donut hole type things with a little bit of strawberry sugar on them. Oh well, 2 out of 3 ain’t bad…..as the song goes.

Then its back toward the ferry terminal, picking up a beer to enjoy while we sit outside watching all the kids and the Shikano. One particular group comes by with a deer dutifully following – essentially because they are teasing him with a skewer of meat. Even though they are cute and tell us the guy is Santa Claus, it’s a little mean. They finally do give the deer the meat on the stick – so in the end it is all right, I suppose. Kids will be kids.

Our group manages to finally meet up, and we make it to the ferry arriving back on the mainland fairly easily. Another 30 minute bus ride brings us to the main event – the Peace Memorial Museum. We first visit the actual ground zero location of the A-bomb that was dropped. Even after seeing it so m any times in books and online and reading all about it, Ed says it is still totally amazing to be standing here in person. It is wild how this one building – called the dome – was the only thing left standing in this whole area – almost in the whole city. Today, it is hard to believe the destruction and what the city must have looked like. But the photos on the informational signs tell the story and show just how leveled this place really was. So frightening. (But what is more frightening are the questions these people are asking Osamu – he has to repeat himself constantly – does anyone listen? And the lack of knowledge about this city, the A-bomb, the situation is just mind boggling.)

Moving on, we walk along the riverfront to the Children’s Peace Monument, for all the children killed by the bomb. Originally inspired by the death of Sadako Sasaki, a child who survived the bombing when she was age 2, but 10 years later was diagnosed with Leukemia and died, her classmates began to call for a monument to all the children who died due to the war. Thus, the beautifully sculpted monument we see here today. Behind the monument are kiosks filled with origami swans that people have made to pay homage to the event and send wishes for world peace. Some of these things are works of art! Just gorgeous. Our little swan hanging is nothing to compare, but it is the through matters, and Osamu hangs our offering in the middle of one of the kiosks (you’d be able to see it better if the idiot Arizona guy wasn’t standing right in the way of everyone seeing him hang our offering. Sigh).

Next, we’re on to the eternal flame where all the dignitaries come to lay wreathes at ceremonies.

And then finally into the museum itself, with the Peace clock that counts the number of days since the first dropping of the A-bomb and the number of days since the last nuclear testing. There is also this really amazing letter from the Mayor of Hiroshima written to President Biden condemning the recent nuclear tests held in Nevada and demanding the US work harder on world peace. Pretty strong!

Then we are into the museum, which is probably a really great place to reflect upon the horrors of nuclear bombing and wars in general – but the reality of it is actually the horrors of overcrowding and over-touristing. Uncomfortably crowded. We do manage to take in a few exhibits – like the stones that have the “shadow of a human” on them – where someone must have been sitting or standing when the bomb exploded. And some terribly sad displays of destroyed children’s bikes, a lunch box and clothing, along with the stories of who they belonged to and how and why they are here in the museum.

More terrible pictures ensued – the damage, both human and property – maps, explanations, timelines. It is all pretty horrific all told.

We are done, fairly quickly, and take our leave, finding a little attached café for a nice latte before heading outside in the now rainy afternoon to meet the rest of the group. We have always wanted to come here – and Nagasaki – from a history buff perspective, so the trip isn’t wasted but had we to do it again, we’d do it on our own – obviously!

We manage to hang on to the entire group and hit the bus and the train station easily. We have 15 minutes before we need to go to the tracks, most of us taking the opportunity to hit the 7&I for snacks and beverages for our ride back to Kyoto. We grab 7&I beers! Wish our 7-11’s were this equipped! Plus some salty snacks and enjoy the ride back to Kyoto with that – as well as a little maple pancake cookie Osamu had bought us in Miyajima (they are famous for the maple trees and maple syrup, and this is a specialty of the area – filled with bean paste – and decidedly not tasty!).

Arriving at the train station, we are finally released, having the rest of the evening to ourself. There is a 9:05 special shuttle just for Gate 1 back to the train station, but we’re not doing that. This morning was enough – we’re walking. It’s only 20 minutes and will give us some nice fresh air and a chance to stretch our legs. In the meantime though, we need dinner. We leave Osamu to walk the others around and wander through the restaurant area, finally settling on a place that had soba noodles. We order one regular soba noodle dish for Ed, but I experiment with Agesoba no Kieran – fried soba noodles topped with egg “dressed with a thick starchy sauce.” Okie dokie! And it is amazing – sort of like egg drop soup, but richer and thicker and oh, those fried noodles. Excellent adventure in eating!