Hiking in Miyajima / Walking for peace in Hiroshima

Travel Reports by Robbu

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November 14, 2013 - Hiking in Miyajima / Walking for peace in Hiroshima

The next stop on my way through Japan was the Hiroshima region. Once again, my day started with a Shinkansen ride to Hiroshima, where I changed to a local train bound for the Miyajima station. Miyajima is an island near Hiroshima, and it belongs to the top stops for Japanese tourists.

You can easily access the island by a ferry, which is located near the train station. Just walk with the big crowd after you go off the train, and then you can't miss the ferry "port". The ride on the ferry lasts some minutes, and soon you can see the famous red Torii, which is one of the attractions of Miyajima. On land, I met a girl from Australia and we decided to go discover the island together. We took the hiking path to the top of Mount Misen. It takes you through a beautiful forest, and you can see wild deer everywhere. The nature on the island is stunning, and it looks like that the people really care for it!

On the top of Mount Misen, you have a gorgeous view over the ocean on one, and to Hiroshima on the other side. We had good luck with the weather, it was warm and sunny, so we really could enjoy our break on top of the mountain.

After we got back to the port area, I ate some fried fish for lunch and headed back to the ferry, as I wanted to visit Hiroshima in the afternoon. Hiroshima itself is "famous" for being the first city ever attacked by a nuclear bomb, and as you can imagine, this is still part of the city's history. In the middle of Hiroshima, there is the Peace Park as well as the Atom Bomb Museum, which are both reminders of the horrible disaster caused by the Atom Bombing.

In the park, there is a big clock, showing the time of the explosion, and it should remind you that the time stood still for the inhabitants at that moment. There is also the Atom Bomb Dome near the park, a destroyed building, which was never rebuild or repaired, but stands there since the attack as a monument.

The musuem itself covers up the history of Hiroshima and Japan before and during the Second World War, and it shows you a glimps of the catastrophe: There is a model of Hiroshima before and after the bomb, and they also show clothes, shoes, and other everyday objects as the looked like just after the explosion. At the museum, you get the chance to sign a petition to stop all countries to produce new nuclear bombs, and you also get a lot of background information about nuclear technology itself.

If you are in Hiroshima, don't miss the chance to go to the Peace Park and the Atom Bomb Museum. It's shocking and terrifying at the same time and it was quite a unique experience, yet in a sad way. On the other side, you see how the city has been rebuild after the attack and how the people of Hiroshima have a positive view of the future.

In the evening, I had a Korean dinner at Hiroshima station, before I took the Shinkansen, which took me back to Osaka, where I went back directly to the hotel to get some sleep...