Port 11 Hiroshima, Japan

Aisatsu! Greetings!

29 March, 2024, is a gloomy morning as Insignia approach Hiroshima, Japan.

29 March, 2024, is also Good Friday before Easter! Insignia has the Grand Hall decorated when we wander out! People are already pocketing handfuls of Cadbury Carmel Easter Eggs! (Me, too! Well, not pocketfuls, but a couple for me and Joy to enjoy!)

We approach our dock, and the sky begins to brighten!

While having breakfast the day is looking great! There is an interesting silver spire at the port!

We have a tour to visit Miyajima and see the Itsukushima Shinto Shrine and its iconic vermillion tori gate in the water, then on to the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Ground Zero site and Peace Park!  On the bus to our first stop we pass this – a factory on the end of a runway! I know Hong Kong had to do something similar, but this one really surprises me!

We reach the ferry dock. Within 10 minutes, our ferry arrives, and we are soon on our way to Miyajima!

The ferry captain certainly knows what his passengers want! He heads straight toward the Tori Gate, even though it is out of the way of his destination ferry dock. Near the island he turns to port, and the iconic Tori Gate in the water comes into view for everyone on the starboard side!

Taiyo no Kiyomori was a great military leader and right-hand aide to the Emperor. He built and supported the Itsukushima Shrine, so he is immortalized here, and is recognized by the UNESCO World Heritage Center!

UNESCO declared this a World Heritage site and set up this monument with a window on the tori gate! I’m showing you both the full UNESCO monument, and a close-up of the monument’s eye on the Tori Gate!

Wild deer live on the island and hang out where the people are! They are totally unafraid!

We approach the shrine and enter its gate. Two mighty lions guard the gate!

More deer are present! We are told to not pet or feed the animals, but people do! Stupid! And one lady complained vehemently when the deer bit her! Hello!

The Itsukushima Tori Gate is beautiful from this location!

We arrive at the Itsukushima Shrine! There is a long, winding path through it!

We are limited in our visit because there is a Shinto wedding beginning when we arrive! the tables are set. The participants are standing in the sidewings. The Shinto Shrine officials are asking people to take no photos, “This is a private wedding.” But inconsiderate tourists are grabbing photos as quickly as they can with total disregard of the official’s request.

The tori gate stands proud against the city on the mainland! The large white building across the water is the Umi-Mori Art Museum. Beautiful!

Back on the mainland side we go to the Aki Grand Hotel for lunch. They have a full model of the Itsukushima Shrine and Tori gate. They also have boats, but the water has recently been drained from the display.

Lunch today is vegetable tempura and sashimi! Delish!

Now it’s time to head to Hiroshima’s Atomic Bomb site. We stand across the river to see this in the best sunlight. This was Hiroshima’s Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall, and its green dome was beloved by the people. The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima exploded 600 m in the air, centered just 160 m southeast of this building. Everyone inside was killed instantly.

Continuing our walk along the river, we reach this sweet memorial!

Sasaki Sadako was a young, two-year-old girl who survived the Hiroshima blast, but not without consequences. The radiation left her ill. As she became more ill, she pursued the creation of 1,000 origami cranes to fulfill her wish to be healed.  She passed away at the age of twelve.

This sculpture became part of the Peace Park, and schools all contribute thousands of origami cranes every year!

Under the sculpture is a bell. When it is rung, two birds fly out of the bell, landing on the large crane under the bell, and then fly back up into it!

Next, we reach the Peace Flame! This flame has burned continuously since its inception in 1964, and its flame was used, along with the Olympic Flame brought from the major flame in Greece, as part of the original flame for the 1994 Asian Games and the 2021 Olympics in Japan!

Next comes the Peace Memorial. There is a long line of people waiting for their time at the rail to pray and take photos. A plaque on the ground in front of the rail explains:

“Let all the souls here rest in peace for we shall not repeat the evil

“This monument embodies the hope that Hiroshima, devastated on 6 August 1945 by the world’s first atomic bombing, will stand forever as a city of peace. The stone chamber in the center contains the Register of Deceased A-Bomb Victims. The inscription on the front panel offers a prayer for the peaceful repose of the victims and a pledge on behalf of all humanity never to repeat the evil of war. It expresses the spirit of Hiroshima – enduring grief, transcending hatred, pursuing harmony and prosperity for all, and yearning for genuine, lasting world peace.”

The box is opened once a year to add the names of those registered persons who recently passed as a result of the atomic bomb exposure.

We finally arrive at the Hiroshima Peace Park Museum!

Stepping into the Peace Museum, this clock is a cold slap. 8:15 AM, August 6th, 1945.

These models simply display the enormity of the overhead impact of the atomic bomb blast. On the right is the complete structure of the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall. On the left is the structure that remains today. This stone structure held up far better than all of the wood structures that comprised 99% of the homes and businesses surrounding this “ground zero” structure.

A forty-foot-long panoramic view in the museum captures the totality of destruction in the area directly underneath the atomic bomb detonation. I did my best to walk this panoramic shot – it took three tries to get this image.

The screen reverts to a “before” photo of the area. The Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall stands out clearly!

Taka-san, our guide, steps in front of me to point out the most important building to her. She uses her Oceania tour flag to point out a building on the other side of the river. “This building is important. This was my school!”

Taka-san’s husband was two years old when this happened, and his family lived just one hundred meters from the center of the blast. Their home was obliterated! But everyone had been encouraged to leave due to air-raid bombing threats. Many of the people actually lived outside of town when the atomic bomb exploded. Taka-san’s in-laws were outside of the blast, but her father-in-law’s parents refused to leave their home during the air raid alarms. Her father-in-law and mother-in-law tried to get to the family home that day after the blast, but fires prevented anyone entering, so they had to leave. The next day they went back, but the rubber soles on their shoes melted on the hot ground, and they had to leave again. Finally, on the third day they were able to make it to the family house. They only succeeded in finding a stack of coins that had all melted together. There were no signs of anyone because the heat was so intense.

The Peace Museum has halls filled with images of horror. The dead, the vaporized, the burned, the destroyed buildings, the survivors wandering through destroyed homes, the melted metals, the twisted metals, the case studies of survivors and the keloids (scarring) they have as a result of their injuries. I am not showing these. This part of the museum is packed with visitors – it is very difficult to maneuver. There are many panels to read, many photos to marvel over, many displays of artifacts, from a small pair of socks to entire building facades! A completely separate hall describes how an atomic bomb works! One more hall describes the legistlation and attempts of the world to protect us all from this every happening again!

As we leave the Peace Museum I see this full view of the Monument, Flame, and Ground Zero points of interest. This is a fabulous display to uphold the World’s need to never use a nuclear device against humanity again!

After a sobering tour, seeing our home away from home is welcome!

A brass band greets us on the pier, playing a great set of songs to see us off! The trumpet on the far left is clearly the band leader, and lead trumpet! This band is great!

As we sail away from Hiroshima, the sun provides a beautiful farewell.

Sayonara, Hiroshima! Thank you for your sobering education!

Next port – Busan, South Korea.