Hiroshima and Miyajima Island — Understated Ideas

Hiroshima was a big contrast to Osaka. While Osaka was busy and vibrant, Hiroshima was serene. The clearest indication of modernity was actually the station the train pulled into when we arrived. Hiroshima Station had plenty of glass windows, high ceilings, and wide space.

One of the first things I noticed was the multiple groups of school children. The most noticeable one had a mix of boys and girls- each gender was clearly differentiated by their headgear. The girls donned yellow sun hats while the boys were wearing matching yellow caps.

Another thing that really stood out to me was the quaintness of the initial streetcars we saw. A couple of hours later we saw and rode a number of new sleek streetcars, but the older ones had significantly more character.

Every train conductor I observed took their job seriously, following a process unique to each one that never failed to complete their routine hand signals and announcements. A younger conductor on one ride had a small open notebook in front of him which he traced with a finger to follow a list of procedures and train stations at every single stop. Once his announcements were done he always placed his white gloved hands in front of him on the tiny counter.

Train conductor in a streetcar, Hiroshima

While walking to Nagata-ya, an okonomiyaki restaurant, for a late lunch before mass, we passed numerous atomic bomb memorials in remembrance of those who died. Many memorials and statues dedicated to peace were located around the blast hypocentre surrounding the Peace Memorial Park, waterway, and connecting bridges.

When we arrived at Nagata-ya, it had a line up of mostly locals and tourists from other provinces waiting to order. Traditional Hiroshima okonomiyaki comes filled with noodles and often with seafood as well. With this in mind, we ended up ordering the oyster okonomiyaki with soba.

The oysters in the dish were plump, fresh, and delicious. Because of the noodles, the okonomiyaki was significantly more filling than the ones we tried in Osaka. We finished our meal in markedly less time than it took to line up and wait for our food to arrive.

After mass we headed to Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. Much of the museum was undergoing renovations so we were only able to visit one wing. The exhibits started on the upper floor and the first thing you see after walking past a floor to ceiling panel of the devastation wrecked on that day was a video simulation of the impact of the bombing. After that, you walk into a large room filled with scientific facts and political correspondence regarding the building of atomic bomb matter.

One of the displays, Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum

When you head down to the ground floor, there are displays showcasing the personal belongings of those who died, accompanied by their life stories. These were tremendously difficult to read and witness. Some exhibits were of entire families and school children who perished, and the items that were discovered on their remains. For others, the only traces of them found were items they owned or would have been wearing at the time. The stories behind each exhibit were heartrendingly tragic.

Glass bottles fused together by the heat of the bomb

The museum prompted a mix of emotions, particularly given our prior visit to Seodaemun Prison History Museum in Seoul. Because of that, I was able to understand the harrowing displays in the complex context of Japan's war crimes during World War II but this didn’t make it any easier to stomach the horror those in Hiroshima experienced. Most of the visitors we saw were Japanese and many of them were schoolchildren. Quite a number of people were emotional walking through the exhibits on the lower floor.

Hiroshima Peace Flame in front of the museum

It was difficult to leave the museum without a heavy sense of melancholy. We both felt the need to decompress after the museum and stroll by the waterway.

We got up early the next morning to head to Miyajima Island. On the stroll to the pier, we saw plenty of people biking to work or with their children sitting behind them on the way to school. At a particularly busy junction by a bridge, we saw dozens of sharply dressed businessmen and women on bicycles waiting for the light to change before whizzing by.

One of many office workers we saw on bicycles

We were lucky enough to get tickets for the 9 AM ferry to Miyajima Island. If you plan on visiting, I recommend arriving at least 30 minutes before the scheduled departure time to buy a ticket or buy them the previous day. We arrived at 8:40 AM and tickets for the 9 AM ride were nearly sold out.

When you’re buying the ticket to the island, purchase a return ticket as well. It’s cheaper to buy a round trip than two one way tickets. Upon docking at Miyajima, we obtained a reservation card for the return ferry from a small counter on the pier.

The entire ferry was about 45 minutes long and quite scenic! When we departed in the morning it was low tide and the ferry passed under the bridges with ease. On our return trip it was high tide and the captain directed the boat very carefully and slowly as we neared each bridge given how precariously close to the underside of the bridges we passed.

We saw a few couples taking wedding pictures on Miyajima Island

Miyajima had an even more relaxed atmosphere about it than Hiroshima. There were lots of wild deer lazing around or wandering between tourists. It’s a relatively short walk to Itsukushima Shrine where the Great Torii can be found. We stopped briefly by a viewing area overlooking the vast Great Torii for pictures before heading on to the temple.

A staff member at the Itsukushima Shrine’s ticket office showed me the traditional way to cleanse myself before entering the shrine. She demonstrated the process with a wooden scoop. The steps went something like this: pour some water from the wooden scoop into your left hand, then your right hand; pour some water into your left palm, rinse your mouth and spit it out; rinse your left and right hand again; tilt the wooden ladle with whatever remaining water it has facing you upwards till remaining water emptied.

Inside the sprawling shrine complex, we chanced upon a couple in the middle of a traditional Japanese Shinto wedding ceremony. It involved prayers and sake drinking from what we observed. After the ceremony was over, the wedding party took to the outdoor area overlooking the water to take their wedding photographs. All their outfits were immaculate. I later looked up the meaning and symbolism of various aspects of the bride and groom’s clothing and was fascinated.

High tide at noon meant that as we were leaving, tourists were flooding into the shrine and forming a massive line to take pictures of the Great Torii that now appeared as if it were floating on water. There were multiple large groups of school children crowding the gift shops on the walk back to the ferry.

My overall impression of Hiroshima during our brief trip was that it’s a slow paced and scenic city forever associated with August 6 1945. The bombing and its devastation was always on the back of my mind while we were there. I wondered at how many residents who live in the city today had loved ones who perished or survived with mental and physical scars. I’m not sure if anyone can confidently say that they’d like to return to a city with a longstanding reputation for having been all but annihilated. It was an important visit to understand the impact of war and the healing provided by the passage of time. I’m glad we went.