Hiroshima Travel Guide

Definitely visiting Hiroshima will open your eyes again to what we should avoid happening as a society, and I think it is important to never forget so we don’t repeat the same mistakes of the past.

What to do and see in Hiroshima

I’ll leave you the “must see” places you can not miss in this city that is best known for being the place where the first atomic bomb fell on August 6, 1945.

How to get there

The best thing is to take a Shinkansen train from Kyoto (2 hours 15 min) or from Osaka (2 hours). The JR Pass includes this train so easier, impossible. As we stayed in Kyoto, we came from there.

What to visit

The Peace Park

This is the site where the bomb fell, and the landmarks of Hiroshima, formerly the financial and political center of the city.

Today is the place where the victims of this tragedy and the war in general are reminded.

The ruins found here were given the official name of Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony.

Hiroshima Dome

In this park there is the dome of the Atom Bomb (Genbaku Dome Domu) the only building that remains the way it was left by the bomb.

All of this because “Little Boy bomb” exploded very close to the building, just 150 meters away.

After several discussions it was decided not to collapse it, so it could be a symbol of an event that should not be repeated, and therefore UNESCO proclaimed World Heritage since 1996.

Cenotaph or Burial Monument for the victims

Crossing the bridge you will find the Cenotaph or burial monument for the victims of the bomb.

It is said that the flame will only be extinguished when the human being destroys all the nuclear weapons on Earth.

There is also the children’s Peace monument.

It carries a very nice story about a Japanese girl named Sadako Sasaki, a survivor of the bomb but who years later became ill with leukemia and therefore began to make paper cranes, as she thought that making 1000 cranes was going to heal her.

Sadako died when she had managed to make 644 and her friends completed her mission.

You can make a crane in his honor too.

Hiroshima Museum

Another place that gives you goose bumps is the Peace Museum here they explain absolutely everything about how the nuclear bomb was built.

Chilling images of how the city was completely destroyed, a clock that stopped just at 8.15 hour when the bomb fell in the National Peace Memorial Hall, stories of the parents of some children from nearby schools and how they had to live and overcome this tragedy.

A thousand things that will make you feel a lot of pain, but it is important to know.

Memorial Tower to the mobilized students

Visit the memorial Tower to the mobilized students, in commemoration of all the young students who were forced to work in the war industry and who ended up dead.

We no longer had time to visit downtown, because of the bad weather, and we planned to continue our trip to Miyajima, but if you have time you can visit the Hiroshima castle known as “the carp” and take some nice pictures.

Transportation

If you count on the JR Pass you can take the Maple Oop bus, which has no cost.

You take it from Hiroshima train station and this truck is making a circuit that is going to stop at the important points of the city.

If you don’t have the JR pass, the 1-day pass for the Maple-Oop costs 400 yen.

One day visit: Hiroshima and Miyajima

Since Hiroshima and Miyajima are very close and both are small towns, it is recommended to visit them on the same day.

 First, we went to Hiroshima and then to the island of Miyajima. If you want to know more about what followed our tour, check out the Miyajima blog.