Quick update: We made it to our departure airport safely and with plenty of time to spare. As I write this it’s currently 10:26pm. We have a connecting flight in Honolulu, Hawaii including about an 8 hour layover. We definitely plan to get some beach time in. Life is hard.
Onto the actual post, written by Cody:
We booked a bullet train for a day trip to Hiroshima. Nick had found a cool island that boasted some nice views and we were able to use our rail passes to get a free ride on the ferry. Win win.
Turns out, there are a lot of places in Japan that have free-roaming deer and Miyajima was no exception. They also have a unique tori gate that looks like it’s floating in the water during high tide. Since no one could walk out to it when we went, it made for some great, scenic photos.
We trekked through the town, got some steamed buns as a snack, and happened upon a bus that drove to a cable car station that would take you about halfway up the mountain. Another win as this whole trip has been walking, so it was nice to be carted around this time.
It was a very nice ride up the mountain. We got some awesome views even before we reached the top. The gondola itself was pretty small, but not too terrifying. I have a weird fear of heights. However, it’s always worth it because the view from the top is amazing. We’ll let the following photo speak for itself.
Afterwards, it was time to head into the city to go to the Hiroshima Peace Park. There are several monuments inside the park as well as the Memorial Museum itself. One monument in particular is a building they left standing that partly survived the bomb called the Atom Bomb Dome.
The museum is a shrine dedicated to those lost when the bomb fell and is full of personal items donated by their family members, including clothes, shoes, and lunch boxes complete with the blackened remains of lunch. It also featured melted roof tiles from within the blast zone that you could touch that Nick found especially moving; you could literally touch something that was transformed by a nuclear weapon.
I could go on for a long time about it, but I will just say it’s a very heavy place. The museum and entire surrounding area had a palpable energy to it. The entire exhibit, while educational, was understandably difficult to get through. After seeing the destruction and waste nuclear weapons can cause, it becomes hard to advocate for their continued use.
After leaving the museum we boarded our bullet train back to Osaka. We were both quieter than usual on the way back as we reflected on the day and the museum in particular.