Hiroshima, Japan

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park

October 15, 2019

During our last trip to mainland Japan back in June 2018, we visited 7 cities including Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe, Himeji, Hiroshima, Miyajima, and Fukuoka. On Day 5 we took the shinkansen (bullet train) from Osaka to Hiroshima for the second part of our trip. We stayed in a great little Airbnb across the river from Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. We dropped off our bags and walked around the park before heading to dinner.

This was the most somber part of our trip. We learned so much about the nuclear attack that occurred on August 6th, 1945 in Hiroshima, and both the direct and indirect victims of it. The park is located right in the middle of Downtown Hiroshima and there are so many things to see there. The Atomic Bomb Dome was located almost directly underneath the explosion but somehow avoided complete destruction and the remains of the building still stand today as a tragic reminder of war.

The Children’s Peace Monument which commemorates Sadako Sasaki. She was exposed to radiation from the blast at 2 years old and she passed away 10 years later from leukemia. She folded paper cranes while ill in hopes of reaching 1,000 and have a wish granted by the gods. To this day children fold paper cranes, string them together and send them to Hiroshima as a sign of peace. Every year, the monument receives more than 10 million paper cranes, totaling more than 10 tons in weight.

The city “decided that in order to value and respond to the wishes for peace embodied in these paper cranes, it was important to share them with more people”. They launched an initiative where citizens suggest ideas on things to do with the discarded paper craned and the city supports their ideas. The paper cranes are recycled into countless items that can be purchased at Oriziru Tower or Paper Crane Tower! We got a few gifts for family, like sets of paper cranes, pencil making kits, paper clay, and notebooks for our nieces! Read more about the clay.

^^ felt weird getting a picture with the Dome but someone offered and we don’t get many while traveling ^^

^^ there’s the paper crane tower in the corner ^^

^ the exact spot the Atomic Bomb exploded on August 6, 1945, ^

^^ of course, we had to try Hiroshima style Okonomiyaki with garlic chips! ^^

On our walk back to our Airbnb the sun was setting and we stumbled upon a Christian children’s choir singing across the river from the A-Bomb dome. It was so beautiful I couldn’t contain the tears and if I’m honest it was the first of many emotional moments on this trip.

On our second day, we headed back to the park first thing in the morning to catch the Peace Clock Tower chiming at 8:15 am, the exact moment the bomb went off. Afterward, we visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and the Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims, where we learned even more about this tragic event in history.