Today I woke on my bottom bunk bed to the sound of Stevens iPad alarm making a racket... This seemed to go on for a while and I wondered why he hadn't turned it off considering Ben was still sleeping, he is normally quite considerate. Turned out later that he had woken up with two numb arms and was physically unable to turn it off haha... He hadn't had this problem since we shared a tiny single bed and I used to stretch out in my sleep making him curl up, normally on his arms ensuring they would end up numb. He got up and proceeded to make a racket getting rucksacks out from under the bed and such... Eventually I asked what he was doing and he said "getting everything ready as we won't be back before twelve"... I reminded him we were sharing a room with someone else and told him we could sort it after breakfast when there was more chance Ben had stirred... Jeez man I don't think this boy is cut out for hostels. By now it was too late and Ben was awake... He told us not to worry as he should get up anyway. He informed us he had located his missing passport down the sofa in Starbucks... What luck!

Anyway after we had freshened up we headed downstairs for a breakfast of banana on toast and tea before heading out in the direction of Hiroshima peace memorial park, which has been built on the site of where the nuclear bomb was detonated. The park is situated about twenty mins walk from our hotel towards the downtown area in what was once the busy business and commercial hub. The park sits on an area of land between to rivers that were once used as transport links and connected by the famous Aioi T shaped bridge that was used by the crew of the Enola Gay as a landmark for the target... although wind on the day made the bombers miss the target by about 800 foot and it detonated over a hospital instead. The park is dedicated to the 140,000 plus victims of the bombing that were killed either directly by the bomb blast or indirectly as a result of radiation and such... There are numerous memorials standing in the park dedicated to various people killed in the tragic events of August 6th 1945, this includes the children's peace monument and a cenotaph for the 45,000 Koreans that were killed and many more.

On entering the park the first site you see is the skeletal remains of the A bomb dome building, which was once the industrial promotions hall. It is the closest building to the hypo centre that remained partially intact although all who were within were killed. The building has a very eery feel to it and it a shocking reminder of what occurred here, it sits silently next to the river and has been left here as to act as a memorial to those who perished and to remind human kind to never repeat such atrocities. We stood and stared at the dome for ages and when in front of it you just can't look at anything else... It really is striking and very emotive.

We then wandered over the bridge towards the park taking in the site of the A bomb dome on our left... At which time a beautiful rainbow was framing the city. We saw the peace bell that sits near the children's peace monument. it is a large tradition Japanese bell that has the world embossed on to it... Visitors are encouraged to ring the bell to encourage world peace and the sound of its chime is often heard throughout the park.

We then came across the children's peace monument which stands tall within the grounds. The striking monument has a girl standing on the top holding a crane (origami bird) up to the sky and is dedicated to all the children who died as a result of tragedy although the monument is based on the story of a young girl called Sasaki Sadako. Sasaki was just two years old when the bomb hit and appeared to have no lasting injuries... She grew up to be a popular girl who loved sports and wanted to be a sports teacher.

Just after she turned twelve she developed a lump on her neck that wouldn't settle so sought medical advice to which she learned we had developed leukaemia and only had three months to a year to live. While constricted to her hospital bed Sasaki began making origami cranes... This was based on an old Japanese story that says that those who fold a thousand cranes will be granted a wish from the gods. She therefore believed if she managed to make 1000 cranes that her illness would be cured. Despite the popular belief that she fell sort of her target, she actually made well over a thousand cranes despite the lack of paper at the time. This unfortunately didn't cure her illness and she died nine months later in October 1955 aged twelve. After her death her school friends raised money for a memorial in honour of her and all the other children who died as a result of the bomb and three years later the children's peace memorial monument was unveiled in the Hiroshima peace memorial park. At the foot of the statue a plaque reads in Japanese "This is our cry. This is our prayer. For Building peace in the world" and to this day cranes are folded and are sent from children all over the world and hung near the monument.

We had a look at the many different cranes that had been hung and they were so amazingly bright and colourful... Some had been made into pictures and were beautiful. While we were there there was a group hanging more cranes up...

We then took a walk over to the cenotaph which is located in the middle of the park.. It is a large saddle shaped monument that sits over a stone chest that holds the names of everyone who has died as a result of the bombing, with an inscription that reads "please rest in peace, for we/they shall not repeat the error". The arch shape of the monument is said to protect the souls of those who's names are beneath it. It also frames the A bomb dome in the background and the peace flame that burns in the foreground. It's a very striking monument and people still place flowers and pray in front of it... There is also a small box that you can donate money into. It is customary to bow your head and reflect for a few moments on what happened here... The peace flame behind has burned continuously since it was lit in 1964 and will continue to do so until all nuclear weapons have been destroyed.

We now found ourselves in front of the Hiroshima peace memorial museum which stretches over the end of the park over looking the various memorials and monuments... It's ¥50 entry and ¥300 for a audio tour... We both decided on the audio tour as I doubted we would be speaking much throughout our visit. On entering you are given a small guide in English of which the museum is introduced... "The Peace Memorial Museum collects and displays belongings left by the victims, photos, and other materials that convey the horror of that event, supplemented by exhibits that describe Hiroshima before and after the bombings and others that present the current status of the nuclear age. Each of the items displayed embodies the grief, anger, or pain of real people. Having now recovered from the A-bomb calamity, Hiroshima's deepest wish is the "elimination of all nuclear weapons and the realization of a genuinely peaceful international community"

The museum is really something... We spent nearly four hours there wandering around and reading and seeing everything. The first thing you see is a small exhibition displaying photos and information on what Hiroshima was like prior to the bomb... It was a very prosperous and busy city that had strong military links. The lead up to the bomb is then described in great detail with various letters and minutes from meetings within the United States government and their allies. This details how and why Hiroshima was chosen as the main target, the city was eventually short listed with two or three others and was chosen for a few reasons, one was that it was one if the only cities that had no POW camps, it was close to water so that if the bomb didn't detonate it could be retrieved and most sad of all was by the purest bad luck... On the day of the 6th August 1945 it was blessed with a beautiful warm clear day, without a cloud in the sky... This pretty much sealed their fate.

The museum has photos and artefacts everywhere from that fateful day including a gentleman's watch that stopped at the time the bomb fell and hundreds of letters of protest sent by the officials of Hiroshima to various governments around the world every time they test nuclear weapons... Every time a letter of protest is sent it is hoped it will be the last one but unfortunately it never is. Just past this wall of letters are two large models of central Hiroshima showing the city before and after the bombing. The difference is striking and literally everything is destroyed, just a few buildings remain and it makes you wonder how anybody survived the initial blast... Although those within a 2.5km radius had no chance.

On each side of the models are videos... To the left is the American military's view of the day... Describing the preparation of the plane and target location... Then on the right is the vivid account of a local house wife who was present during the bombing, along with a photo taken shorty afterwards. A local photographer apparently went out to document the aftermath but found the sights of the victims so traumatic that he was unable to use them as his subjects and managed only five pictures. While I was standing there looking at the model with a massive lump in my throat an elderly gentleman who volunteers at the museum came up to me and handed me a small postcard and hand made peace token. I was completely caught by surprise and taken a back and meekly managed a thank you and a bow before he was gone.

As I continued upstairs the exhibition continues to explain more about nuclear weapons and the countries still testing them. It also gives a more vivid account of the aftermath of the day, such as the thousands of children who had been evacuated into the country during the war who now found themselves alone with no family left... It's truly heartbreaking to read. It also talks about how the city tried to get everything back to normal as quick as possible and even had the street cars up and running the next day... You kind of assume the city was destroyed and cut off for a long period of time but not at all.

The remainder of the exhibition recounts the people's stories and displayed keepsakes and such things... There are numerous stories of children who were lost or missing during the bomb and family members hunting in vain for them only to retrieve a lunch box or an item of clothing.. One mum couldn't find her young daughter despite looking daily until a few months later when she came a cross a wooden sandal that she recognised as she had made the thong from an old kimono of hers... No remains of her daughter were ever found but the imprint of her foot was scalded into the wood of her sandal. There was also another boy who had grown his own vegetables... On harvesting his first crop his mother had made him a very special lunch from his vegetables, which he was very excited about eating. After the bomb his mum searched in vain till she eventually found a young child curled up in the foetal position, unrecognisable because of his burns... But clutched to his stomach was a tin box that had his name engraved... And inside charred in to black ash was his lunch. Her words are read to you through the headset and its so sad to listen to her thoughts and feelings at that time. She explains how desperately excited her precious son was about his lunch that day and bless him... he never got t eat it. Absolutely heartbreaking what these parents must have gone through during this time.

There was one mum who right up until she died never forgave herself for sending her young daughter to school that day, as she had complained of a headache and wanted to stay home. The poor women lived with that guilt till she died. There is just hundreds of these stories of children who perished and many more who survived and were lovingly cared for at home with no pain relief or medicine till they died days later in agony because all medicines were destroyed in the blast.

After this section is an area related to the "acute effects" of the bomb... Those documented from August to December of that year. This included mouth ulcers, fatigue, nausea and vomiting, hair loss etc and the long term effects such as cancers and Microcephaly, a condition that affected babies who were in the womb at the time of the bomb... There is a video explaining the story of Kunizo Hatanaka whose mother was three months pregnant with her at the time of the bomb. She was born with microcephaly and here is a link to her story: http://www.hiroshima-spirit.jp/en/voice/hatanaka_e.html

There is then an exhibition of Sasaki Sadako and her story, there's a video of her and many of her tiny cranes on display... Very moving.

Further along there is also a few structural examples of what he bomb did to iron and a tin roof (which looked like crumpled up tin foil) as well as the steps of the local bank that has a poor souls shadow burned into the stone. The bank was very close to the hypo centre and they would have perished instantly. There is examples of glass bottles melting together... Sand that's turned to glass and roof tiles that bubbled under the heat... You can feel such objects and its very strange. As you end the exhibition there is a large collection of paintings that have been painted by survivors and tells their stories as well as a petition to sign to end nuclear weaponry. There is also an copy of Hiroshima's peace agreement that you can take with you.

The museum is a place that you just can't take in what you are seeing... It all feels so unreal. It was only when I was sitting on the bus to Kyoto that evening when it really hit me. You just can't believe that such things have taken place and I think because you have grown up with the stories of the Hiroshima bomb you don't fully appreciate what happened. You think a bomb went off and killed everyone... But in fact it is the tales of the ones who survived and died later or carried on living that is the most harrowing of all. You can't even comprehend what those children saw or went through on that day and the days proceeding... You can't imagine how lost they must have felt after learning their whole family had been wiped out and they were alone in a place that resembled the end of the world, living with no food, shelter clothes and coping with burns and injuries. We have all burnt ourselves and still I don't think we can imagine how painful that must have been... How scared they were. Although the city has recovered well and come so far in the short time since the bomb, its still very raw and the scars are still visible. A couple of elderly people approached us and both times you could see it still hurt when they talk of that day. They are very friendly though and simply want to spread the message of peace to all.

Once we left the museum some school children started talking to us and gave us more peace tokens.... we then headed to the memorial hall that is a large round room containing a panoramic view of Hiroshima taken from the hypo centre at Shima hospital... The picture is made up of 140,000 small tiles, each one representing someone who died during the remainder of that year. 140,000 is the estimated amount of people who died up to the end of 1945 but obviously many more have died after as a result of radiation. The hall acts as a lasting memorial to those who perished in Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the two bombs. Often Nagasaki is forgotten in regards of the atomic bomb but it too suffered after a atomic bomb was detonated there three days after Hiroshima. There is a man named Tsutomu Yamaguchi who miraculously survived both bombs... despite being at ground zero for both... his story is told here: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/tsutomu-yamaguchi-survivor-of-both-the-hiroshima-and-nagasaki-atomic-bomb-blasts-1885195.html

There is basin in the centre of the room which indicates 8:15am the time of impact and offers continuous water to the souls who died that day begging for a drink. As you leave this sad room you walk up a corridor to a room that has large screens continuously showing photos and names of those who perished. There are computers to search for relatives and new names of victims are added as they are found.

There is then a small area where survivors testimonies are documented so I sat for a while and read these... This included a lady and her husband who took in the orphaned children and explains their everyday trial and tribulations, the young girl who was the first bus conductor back on duty after the bomb and many more. There's also a memoir of one of the doctors who worked alongside
Dr. Marcel Junod a Swiss doctor who fought to get medicines through to the victims in the aftermath of the bombing.

We then wandered back out into the cold air and looked at the various memorials scattered around ..this included the atomic bomb memorial mound. this is a small hill in the park that contains the ashes of the 70,000 people who were killed and remain unidentified, even to this day relatives sometimes come forward and their ashes are reunited.

We then headed into the Rest House. This was another building that miraculously survived the bombing along with just one employee who was in the basement at the time. It is now a cafe and souvenir shops so we took a gander... I bought a beautiful set of cranes and a magnet before we saw the time and realised we needed to head back to the hotel... We had spent the whole day here... We were told by the hostel we wouldn't need more than half a day but I would suggest you give this place the whole day it deserves. You probably wouldn't want to go anywhere else afterwards anyway. Here is a link to a story of one of the young girls who survived the day. A very well written and emotional piece: http://mezza1.tripod.com/japanstudentexchange/id13.html

We headed back to the hotel and grabbed a cup of tea before departing for the bus to Kyoto. We sadly said good bye to the staff... Who were lovely and wandered out into the now raining Hiroshima. We headed towards the station and down to the subway... Then on arriving back out into daylight we saw it was now snowing.... Weird! We then headed to Steven's favourite place (Sukiya) for some food before boarding the bus. The journey took about six hours of which we reflected mostly on our day and slept a little. We arrived in Kyoto at about ten thirty and after two subway trains and a short walk we found ourselves at the Jalan Do hostel. It's seems nice although we will be parted for the next four nights as its single sex dorms. I am located on the first floor and Steven on the third. We dumped our stuff and headed downstairs to the lounge where a Japanese girl was having a very loud Skype session so not long after we retreated to bed... I showered and curled up and slept soundly. I had been a bit apprehensive as they were capsules and I get very claustrophobic but I needn't have worried as they are actually very spacious. You have a full sized single mattress, a shelf, a lamp and power source plus a curtain to pull across. It was very nice to actually be alone for the first time in ages.... No fight for the duvet.