Japan 2023: Hiroshima

by Justin Dunn | August 4, 2023

    We left off our adventure at the train station in Nagano, ready to board the train to Hiroshima. Because Hiroshima is really far from Nagano, we had two layovers, one in Kanazawa, and the other in Shin-Osaka. Each one was only 20 minutes, pretty short for a layover, but we had nothing to worry about because the Shinkansens are always on schedule.

    We arrived to Nagano Station 30 minutes before our Shinkansen left and after a quick look at the train schedules flashing across the screens we saw that our train left from platform 11 at 9:58, the same time our ticket said. We were all set, or so we thought. A notification appeared on the screens that said the Tokyo Kagayaki train coming to platform 11 was delayed 10 minutes. By the way, when I say Kagayaki I’m referring to the name of a specific bullet train. It took a second for us to process this because all of the notifications are first read in Japanese and then in English, so if we don’t catch the whole message the first time we have to wait a little bit for the English to repeat. Now, this delay was a little worrisome, but we figured that we’d still be able to make our connection in Kanazawa. I tried to ask someone dressed like a train conductor if the train going to Kanazawa was delayed, and through a couple gestures and words I couldn’t quite understand he seemed to say yes. A couple minute passed, the clock now reading 10:00. That’s when I noticed something a little funky; the train that was arriving to platform 11 was the Kagayaki 506. Our tickets said we were supposed to be taking the Kagayaki 505. I figured that this had something to do with the delay, but I decided to check with another employee just to make sure. This time, I showed him my ticket. He pointed to the platform on the other side of the tracks and said “already departed”. Uh oh.

    So yeah, we missed our train and we were stranded in Nagano. Luckily, our Japan Rail passes let us get on any non-reserved JR train car for free, and we were able to hop on the next train to Kanazawa! Even with missing our train and all of our connections, we were still able to follow the same route we planned for, just an hour behind schedule. Although the JR pass makes it easy to just hop on the Shinkansen, there is always the risk that all the non-reserved seats will be taken. It was a lot more stressful, but we got to Hiroshima safe and sound around 5pm.

On the Shinkansen

    Fortunately, we didn’t have any plans for our first night in Hiroshima, so we relaxed at the hotel for a little and then went out to find dinner. Ryan had found a restaurant that had great reviews a short walk from our hotel. Unfortunately, that restaurant and the backup one he’d found were both full. I saw a cute place right next to the second option and after “talking” with the host, I recognized the words “sushi” and “sashimi”. I thought sushi is good, so I called Ryan in. Like many restaurants, the menu was only in Japanese, so we used Google translate to help us. Ryan ordered a corn tempura dish and an octopus dish, and I ordered broiled corn and a sushi dish. The problem with Google translate is that it’s not always 100% accurate. This was exemplified in that the “octopus dish” Ryan ordered looked and tasted a lot like raw fish, and the “broiled corn dish” I got was what I think was corned beef? I’m still not sure, but it was definitely not corn. Our food wasn’t bad, but it was not what we expected at all. The restaurant was cool though. They made all the food right in front of us and the staff were super friendly. I ended up going back the next night by myself and tried to order the sushi I’d gotten before which just had cucumbers on it. I ended up getting served raw squid, tuna, and sea bream. It was alright and really I had gone back to see the friendly staff, so I wasn’t too disappointed. Because this was my third time eating accidentally ordered raw fish, I was kind of getting used to it.

Not “broiled corn”

    The next day, we started our morning off by going to the Peace Memorial Park, and then the Peace Memorial Museum. The park is only a couple hundred meters from the hypocenter, the point of detonation of the first atomic bomb used in warfare. At 8:15am on August 6, 1945, a Boeing B29 fighter jet flew over Hiroshima and dropped a 9,700 pound bomb over the middle of the city. The bomb detonated at 600 meters and instantly killed around 80,000 people (CNN), most of them civilians. The after-effects of the bomb, including fires which sprung up all over the city, and radiation resulted in the death of about 100,000 more.

Atomic Bomb Dome, 150m from the hypocenter

    

    The Peace Memorial Museum was an incredibly powerful experience, definitely not a fun one, but a must if you’re in Japan. It had a lot of art by survivors, photo documentation, and artifacts left over from the bombing, each one marked with the distance it was from the hypocenter. There was also an exhibit on nuclear weapons, talking about their development and the role they play in international politics, and one on the redevelopment of Hiroshima into a thriving city. The hardest part to get through for me was the section devoted to children’s items. The morning of the bombing, many junior high schools in Hiroshima were mobilized to demolish buildings to reduce the spread of fires during air raids, so thousands of kids were outside at 8:15am, most of them dying instantly. This section had collected some of the kids’ belongings and had quotes from their family members. It was heartbreaking.

    This museum got me thinking about the American school system and how we are taught about the end of World War II. I feel like I’ve always been told that the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were necessary to end the war. The museum was not very supportive of this narrative. Now, the politics of the time were complicated, with the war in Europe over and the Cold War creeping over the horizon. I don’t know enough to make an educated conclusion determining what Harry Truman should have done in August 1945, but it is certainly an interesting topic and if you want to read more about it, here’s a cool article I found: Were there alternatives to the atomic bombings?

    Okay, back to my travels in Japan. After the museum and park, we headed to Miyajima island. Miyajima is in the bay off of Hiroshima. Miyajima, literally translated to “shrine island”, is home to the Itsukushima shrine, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. You may have seen pictures of the iconic floating torii gate off the shore of the island. Also inhabiting the island are hundreds of deer. They are everywhere and despite the constant announcements telling tourists not to feed them, we saw a couple people who couldn’t resist the photo op. It was an amazing escape to go from the tragic museum in the morning to this beautiful island. We spent the afternoon wandering around, checking out the different shrines and hiking trails. There were also a ton of egrets, a large heron-like bird. They’re all over Japan; you can see them in rice fields and around public ponds. It’s great!

Me and my deer friends

Itsukushima Floating Torii Gate

    As dinner time was approaching, Ryan and I were considering whether we wanted to eat on the island or head back and eat near our hotel. Luckily, we decided to head back to Hiroshima because when we got on the ferry we met a French tourist who said that it was the last one running that night. All of the rest were canceled due to impending weather. Good thing we were on it! For dinner, we went to Okonomimura, a food court full of a bunch of restaurants that all sold different versions of a regional pancake-like savory dish called Okonomiyaki. After a little bit of elevator trouble where Ryan and I became separated, we finally found each other and decided to eat on the third floor. As we were waiting for our food, who walked in but the same French guy we saw on the ferry earlier that day! He ended up joining us for our meal, making him the second French person who we’ve enjoyed a meal with here.

    After that, we headed back to our hotel and packed for our trip to Kyoto the next morning. Stay tuned and that blog will drop shortly! Until next time!

- Justin Dunn