Hiroshima 7/11/08 - 9/11/08

We covered the 350km to Hiroshima in about 2 hours including 4 stops along the way. The bullet trains were not only lovely to look at (if you like looking at trains that is), but very fast, efficient and had the, what we now know as typical, Japanese customer service. This even went as far as the ticket inspector bowing every time he left the carriage. These trains had 20 carriages on but he never missed a bow every time he left even if he was just walking through.The train was called a Shinkansen and was the second fastest type in Japan. Unfortunately the Japan Rail pass didn't cover the Nuzomi which is faster but this was still a very quick way of getting around.I suppose the name Bullet Train should have given us the clues.

We found the brand new K's House Hostel after a 20 minute walk from Hiroshima Station and were welcomed into a pristine, well equipped hostel and entered into our first Dorm Room experience of the trip. The rooms were so new that I even had to tighten up a few screws on the IKEA-esque bunk beds before we put out our bedding and claimed a spot. There were four beds in our dorm but on the first night it was empty. For the next couple of nights we shared with a friendly Hungarian backpacker with an unfortunate stutter. Luckily for us he was up and gone before we got up in the mornings and asleep by the time we went to bed so although we didn't get to know him that well, we didn't affect each other's plans in any way.

Hiroshima is generally all about one thing. The city was destroyed on the 6th August 1945 in the first ever Atom Bomb attack. This was carried out by the USA along with a later bomb over Nagasaki. That being said we didn't feel that Hiroshima was a depressing place at all. The city feels like it has been re-built to have a generally happy and friendly feel but as a 1st time tourist it is difficult to get past the history in the few days we had here. We found the famous a-bomb dome by accident while we were walking round on our first evening.Before the bomb the building was the Industrial Promotion Hall but became as the A-bomb dome as it was one of the few remaining recognisable buildings after the almost complete destruction that came from the blast.It was definitely something I never thought I would see in real life and it felt a little surreal as we walked around and took some photos while sipping on hot coffee and chocolate from the closest vending machines.

Heading back to the hotel we stopped for dinner at a fast food noodle bar. We were used to the outside vending machines with pictures of Tommy Lee Jones looking serious about his can of coffee, but this was a new experience in the Japanese use of vending machines. We had to choose our dinner off the pictures on a large vending machine in the corner of the room and we received our small printed voucher. Then, after sitting down, the attendant took away our tickets and came back with a plate of food looking surprisingly similar to the picture. It wasn't that we had a problem with the system, in fact it seemed to work remarkably well on the whole, it was just a little different for us. Especially as all the descriptions were in Japanese and although the food generally matched the picture, you were never quite sure what you were getting. We both ate the tried and tested (in Wagamamma's world over) Ebi Katsu Chicken Curry. Considering Japan is supposed to be very expensive this was a very good 450 yen worth of food. (About £4.50)

The next day we visited the Peace Memorial Park and A-Bomb dome in earnest. The Peace Memorial Park covers a large area of land right next to the dome and houses a number of monuments to various different sectors of the community who died in the blast. We walked around the park finding the cenotaph and the flame of Peace before finding the touching children's peace monument. This was inspired by a young girl who had cancer following the blast. An old Japanese custom is to fold paper cranes as a symbol of longevity and happiness.She believed that by folding 1000 of these she would recover.Unfortunately she died before she could reach this number but when her classmates folded the remaining required the paper crane became the symbol of peace and hope for the survivors.

The peace memorial museum was very graphic and descriptive, with detailed accounts of the pain, suffering and general destruction the bomb caused but strangely we didn't feel that it was judgmental.It did a good job of documenting what happened but it didn't go into the who's and why's like other museums that we have been to like the war remnants museum in Vietnam.

We found the hypocentre which was the exact spot the bomb exploded above. There is nothing except a small plaque next to the modern buildings but again another strong reminder to the destruction that happened in the city. On the way home but after the day in the Museum and park we decided to have any easy night back at the hostel.

Our last day in Hiroshima needed to be more upbeat so we took a train and ferry boat ride (all courtesy of Japan Rail) to an island just south of Hiroshima called Miyajima. Apart from the extremely friendly, and a little cheeky, local deer and the striking shrines this island is also the location of the most photographed tourist attraction in Japan. I am not sure who works out what exactly is the most photographed tourist attraction in Japan (I have visions of an army of Japanese employees stationed near all major tourist attractions counting everyone that lines up a photo), but the view over the bay with the floating Tori in the middle of the sea with the city on the shoreline behind, was certainly excellent . At least the second time we saw it anyway. The initial view was of an amazing 20 metre high tori set out on about 500metres of tidal mud and a lot of tourists hanging around it. By the end of the day the tide had come in and we got the full floating effect. The rest of the day we visited temples surrounded by mountains and red maple leaf trees, oh and ate rice on a stick, avoided local deer stealing things out of our hands, ate freshly baked waffle cake type things shaped like maple leaves and containing chocolate filling and, (Jemma's favourite) saw the world's largest rice paddle.

The last night in Hiroshima we became the entertainment at a local Okonomiyaki stall above the station. We didn't plan to be such a spectacle but we arrived knowing only the name of the local Cabbage, noodle and egg pancake and nothing more.After being guided to a seat we then ordered by smiling and then pointing at other diners' food and watched as they ate a prepared version off the hot plate in front. Then it was our turn.All seven waitresses/cooks watched intently as we tucked in and seemed extremely relieved as we continued to nod and smile our way through. More international thumbs up at the end sealed us a good people in their eyes and we left we a free present of a Satsuma each which none of the other diners seemed to get.Good food, not a word of English, attentive friendly service and a free Satsuma. All in all a successful evening all round.