Driving Miss Karen

A blog about our travel

Day trip to Hiroshima and Itsukushima Shrine

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Kyoto is about and 90 minutes to 2 hours away depending on train speed from Hiroshima. Itsukushima shrine on the island of Miyajima is a 10 minute ferry from Hiroshima bay. Hiroshima is the site of one of the most profound events in recent history and the shrine is a bastion of stability and peace. They make for a good but long day trip

Tranquil and beautiful Itsukushima shrine gives no hint to what happened just a few miles away at 08:45 AM August 6th 1945
Pretty normal looking right? Hiroshima looks like a really nice city to live in with it’s welcome sign, beautiful park, and reconstructed castle. It’s good to see how nice a place it is now
The building is really moving
Even the rubble has been left as it was
It’s only when you see the Atomic Bomb Dome (Hiroshima Peace Memorial officially) that you start getting a feel for what happened here. The building was known as the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall until everything changed that morning
Marker just outside peace park below where the bomb exploded (2000 feet above)
One of the only ground level pictures of the bombing
The atomic bomb dome after the bombing
A small marker at the hypo-center (the spot directly below the bomb) and some grainy photos are the only visual evidence left of the actual bombing
Japanese school children ring the Peace Bell
More school children at the Children’s Peace Monument
The Victim’s Memorial Cenotaph
Peace park is the center of the memorials. There are a lot of “Peace” structures like the Peace Bell, Children’s Peace Monument, Victim’s Memorial and others like the Flame of Peace, the Peace Clock, and even a Peace Memorial Mailbox. There were lots of Japanese school groups touring. Maybe a bit young to understand. I’m not sure
Tricycle and helmet donated recently by the father of a young victim
Bottles fused together by the extreme heat
Memorial Hall was the most heart-wrenching with items and stories from the victims and physical effects of the bombing and the radiation. It was very unsetting and horrific but I had very little sense of guilt (I was born in 1962 in Cuba). I feel that this horrible weapon, ultimately compressed the suffering that would happen to the Japanese people during an invasion into two horrifying events followed by years of random suffering of the radiation victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Though shocking I think the total suffering was greatly reduced
The ferry ride is short and puts you in the right frame of mind for the shrine
Cute little dear roam the island and will eat your ferry tickets if given a chance
We welcomed a shift away from the horrors of Hiroshima to the tranquility and beauty that survives on Miyajima and Itsukushima shrine
The pagoda, shrine, and guardian in late afternoon
The famous Floating Torii Gate near sunset
The shrine is way more beautiful in person
The shrine is one of the most beautiful we’ve seen and is probably even prettier at high tide. The floating torii gate is the inspiration for the one at EPCOT Japan pavilion

Jose

AKA Alfred

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