The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and the Island of Miyajima

Hiroshima and Oyster Beds in the Inland Sea

Blog Entry #51: The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and the Island of Miyajima

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Buddha & Peace Pole

We had decided to stay two days in Hiroshima to have time to more fully experience the Peace Park, and we were glad this day for that decision. After a leisurely breakfast as the Comfort Hotel, we checked out, moved our backpacks next door to the Reino Inn, and headed back to the Peace Park for the morning.

8:15 am Clock Memorial

 The rain from the previous day had been replaced by warm sunshine, and the flowers and trees of the park welcomed us back.

National Peace Memorial Hall for Atomic Bomb Victims

Photo Panel of Hiroshima Victims

Mizuno Family victims

Hiroshima Victims

We spent much of the morning at the National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims, which displays photos, letters, and memoirs of both victims and survivors of the bomb. There is a digital database to search for the names of those killed, and I entered the surname of a childhood friend from Upland, Frank Mizuno, which brought up three panels of names and photos. Frank’s parents spent much of World War II in Japanese-American relocations camps in California; while I have no idea if he had any Mizuno relatives in Hiroshima, it brought back the years of silence his parents maintained about their time in the relocations camps across the Pacific.

Monument for Korean Victims of the A-Bomg

Korean Memorial

We also spent time at the beautiful memorial for Korean citizens killed by the bomb. An estimated 15-20,000 Koreans who were forced to work in Hiroshima during World War II died in the atomic blast; only in recent years has attention been brought to their plight in Japan during the war and the massive losses during the atomic bomb attack.

Pat being interviewed by University of Hiroshima students

Cenotaph & A-Bomb Dome

We had several engaging interludes during our time in the Peace Park, as it was a Saturday morning and we kept being approached by teams of two or three young men who would ask us first, “Do you speak English?” and when we affirmed we did, ask us if they could ask us some questions. Students from Hiroshima University, they were conducting surveys with English-speaking foreigners on a range of global issues.

People praying in front of the Cenotaph

 I was interviewed three times and Pat four on issues from air pollution and global warming, to oil spills and world poverty and famine. It was not always clear to us how well they understood our answers, but their faces lit up when I gave them my card showing I am a professor of environmental studies at the University of Montana.

Bell of Peace

Inside the #2 Streetcar

Ferry to Miyajima Island

Riding the Ferry to Miyajima Island

By mid-day we were ready for a break from the intensity of the war memorials and museums, so we boarded the streetcar for a trip to the end of the #2 line, the ferry terminal for the short crossing across the harbor to Miyajima Island. Just south of Hiroshima in the island-studded Inland Sea, Miyajima is considered one of Japan’s most beautiful places.

The Torii gate in the Miyajima Harbor

Still heavily forested and topped by 530 m. Mt. Misen, Miyajima is a UNESCO World Heritage site filled with temples and shrines, some which date back over 1500 years. Perhaps best known is Itsukushima-Jinja, the “floating shrine” surrounded by waters at high tide. Rebuilt in 1168, it could only be approached from the sea by commoners, who were not allowed to set foot on the hold island.

Instead they passed through the brilliant vermillion Torii gate in the harbor, now one of the most photographed places in Japan.

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Menu options at our restaurant

Dodging the very tame “wild deer” who inhabit the island and aggressively chase anyone holding food [my favorite warning sign read: “JR railway passes cannot be replaced so please take care not to let it get eaten by a deer”], we found a restaurant where we could indulge in stewed rice and curry dishes before beginning our exploration of the island.

Family at lunch

Senjo-kaku Pavilion & Pagoda

Five-Storey Pagoda

The Inland Sea from Mt. Misen on Miyajima

After visiting the Senjo-kaku Pavilion and the Five-Storey Pagoda (dating to the 15th and 16th centuries) with old donated paintings hanging from the rafters, we headed to the cable car “ropeway” for a breathtaking ascent most of the way up Mt. Misen. Views of many of the islands in the Inland Sea as well as back across the harbor to Hiroshima were stunning.

Miyajima Ropeway up Mt. Misen

"Baby Buddhas" on Mt. Misen

Kobo Daishi's Flame

From the top of the ropeway we made our way another km to the summit of Mt. Misen. Home to several Buddhist temples and shrines, a temple near the summit is where Kobo Daishi is said to have meditated for 100 days following his return from China in the 9th century. Adjacent to the main temple is a flame said to be burning continuously for 1200 years since Kobo Daishi lit it; the Flame of Peace in the Peace Park was lit from this flame.

Buddhist monk tending Temple on summit of Mt. Misen

We arrived at the summit just before sunset, and the sun’s descending rays lit the summit brightly while lower elevations slipped into shadow. It is hard to imagine a more beautiful setting, though we couldn’t linger to long to enjoy it as we still had a 2-mile, 530 m. descent by foot ahead of us and it was getting dark fast.

Sunset over the Inland Sea from Mt. Misen, Miyajima Island

Japanese maples & fall colors on Mt. Misen

Pat and I were literally the last people down the mountain, as most others rode the ropeway back down. The hike through the woods in the dark was quiet and peaceful, interrupted only by the sound of crickets and a creek flowing next to the trail. Nevertheless it was very dark by the time we reached the base, and we were relieved to find a dimly lit path along the Mitarai creek to guide us back down.

Torii Gate at night

Memorial Mound in Hiroshima Peace Park

Most of the Saturday crowd was gone now, and we made our way back to the ferry terminal past the brightly lit Torii gate in the harbor, the more subdued Five Storey Pagoda, and several sleeping deer. As we took the ferry back across to the mainland, a full moon rose over the Hiroshima harbor.

The moon reminded us that exactly one month ago we watched the same full moon rise over the Taj Mahal and the Ganges River at Varanassi – what a whirlwind and amazing month we have had in the interlude.

Preparing Okonomiyaki in Hiroshima

We made our way back to the Peace Park by the streetcar, and finished a very full day by dining on the local Hiroshima delicacy – okonomiyaki – a delicious plate of fried noodles and toppings. Then to bed to prepare for our early morning departure for Tokyo the next day.

Encountering Japan: Two Days in Hiroshima

Welcoming band playing for the MV Explorer as we dock in Kobe, Japan

Blog Entry #50: Encountering Japan: Two Days in Hiroshima

11:11 on 11-11-11!

Friday, November 11, 2011

How to come to terms with the two days Pat and I just spent in Hiroshima?

A-Bomb over Hiroshima

The name alone evokes long-repressed fears of nuclear war that haunted my childhood years growing up in the Cold War where some of my earliest memories are of the tensions around the Cuban Missile Crisis, and “duck and cover” drills were a regular part of elementary school routines.  Then Hiroshima meant one thing: the first city every to experience the destruction of an atomic bomb.

A-Bomb Dome & Peace Museum & Park

A-Bomb Dome & Island the day after the bomb

And the reality of that experience pervades Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park and Museum unlike any other place I have been.  There is no escaping it, from the silent presence of the familiar “A-Bomb Memorial” skeleton of a former school and Industrial Promotion Hall, to the Buddhist Bell of Peace whose tone resonates across this beautiful island park.

Shinkansen "Bullet Train" in Hiroshima

But Hiroshima is also a vibrant modern city served by Japan’s famous Shinkansen “Bullet” train, on which we arrived after departing our ship two days ago in the rain at Kobe Harbor.  Hiroshima is built in a stunning setting: a series of parallel islands divided by channels of the Ota-gawa delta as it empties into the Inland Sea.  Hence, everywhere, it seems, are river channels lined with trees and walkways.  Our 2-day visit coincided with the onset of fall colors, a particularly rich mix of gingkoes, cottonwoods, and feathery Japanese maples.

Our first challenge was simply reaching Hiroshima, using our newly minted Japan Rail Passes it had taken us half a day criss-crossing Shanghai 3 days before to procure.  Two trips on the Kobe Metro line brought us to the “Shin-Kobe” station where the Shinkansen or “bullet” train stops on the Tokyo to Hiroshima route.  We our non-existent Japanese, we relied on the courtesy of many Japanese officials and citizens who got us to the right train platform in time for our 1:35 pm departure.

Hiroshima city and harbor, showing channels of Ota River

We arrived in Hiroshima 90 minutes later, duly impressed by the speed and smooth ride of our train, as well as the beauty of the Japanese countryside between Kobe and Hiroshima.  With 80% of Japan’s 127 million people (in an area roughly the size of California) living in urban settings, we were surprised still to see so many tree-covered hills and mountains on our trip west to Hiroshima.

Hiroshima & the Motoyasu River channel

Hiroshima streetcar

Hiroshima is a quaint and very efficient streetcar system, and the lovely attendant at the Information booth in the train station showed us exactly on the map how to get to the Comfort Hotel Otemachi – only 2 blocks from the Peace Memorial Park – where we had a reservation.  Twenty minutes and 150 yen ($2) later, we checked into our room and we set off on foot to take advantage of the waning afternoon light to explore the Peace Memorial Park and Museum.

The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum

Set on an island between two river channels and at “ground zero” of the August 6, 1945 atomic bomb blast, it is hard to reconcile the beautifully cultivated grounds of Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park with the photos of the devastation of the bomb that killed over 140,000 people.  Set at one end is the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and International Conference Center, surrounded by flowering gardens, fountains, and sculptures. 

Cenotaph & A-Bomb Dome

From it a long walkway leads to a Cenotaph Arch containing the names of all the known victims of the bomb.  The Cenotaph in turn frames the Flame of Peace – to be extinguished only when the last nuclear weapon has been destroyed – and the whole ensemble frames the so-called “A-Bomb Dome”, the former school and Industrial Promotion Hall that was one of the few buildings in the area not completely leveled by the bomb blast.

Model showing area before the bomb

Peace Park Island after the bomb

Since we planned to return to the Park the following morning, we focused this afternoon on our visit to the Peace Memorial Museum.  The Lonely Planet Guide warns that “a visit to the museum can be an overwhelming experience” which we found to be an understatement.

Model showing where the bomb detonated over Hiroshima

When time stopped: 8:15 am Aug 6, 1945

One begins a visit to the Museum on the ground floor, moving through a circular exhibit that details the history of Hiroshima, and especially how this port city became a growing center of Japanese militarism following the first and second “Sino-Japanese Wars” with China in the late 1890s and 1930s. 

Model of A-Bomb Dome in Museum

Street scene the day after the bomb

There is careful attention paid both to rising Japanese militarism in “the Pacific War” as it is known here, and the U.S. decision first to develop and atomic bomb and then to use it on Japan.  Only as you reach the second level and look back down do you realize you have been circling inside a replica of the A-Bomb Dome, a haunting realization.

Child Survivor's drawing

Survivor drawing

We spent two hours in the museum, trying to absorb the information and exhibits, numbed by the scale of what it tries to convey.  Particularly poignant are the individual stories and testimonies that try to bring an event of such enormous scale down to a human level.  One leaves the exhibit passing by the drawings of child survivors of the blast, and the realization that those still living are only a decade or two older than Pat and me.


One particular section of the museum brought back memories of my childhood and reading books in the Upland Library: the story of Sadako and the Thousand Cranes.  Here is part of the exhibit

Cenotaph & Museum at night

It was a relief to walk out of the museum around 6:00 pm into the serenity of the now-dark park.  We walked past the Cenotaph and the Flame of Peace to see the A-Bomb Dome reflected in the waters of the Motoyasu river channel.  

A-Bomb Dome at night

The weather had improved dramatically from the morning rain, and we stopped to enjoy a lovely dinner at the outdoor Caffe Ponte, looking back across the channel to the Peace Park.  Walking back to the hotel along the Motoyasu parkway in the evening light was soothing after such an emotional immersion into Hiroshima’s atomic past.