On Tuesday, May 16, 2017, Jody and I set out on a 6 day, 5 night trip to Hiroshima and Kyoto. We left Hachioji Station in the morning and made our way a short distance by regular train to link up with a high-speed bullet train that would take us to Hiroshima. Below is the sleek train arriving at our stop. The entire trip took a little over 3 hours to cover 495 miles and that included several stops along the way. The train has a top speed of 185 miles an hour. Wow! It was amazing to see the scenery literally fly by our train window. Yet, it was so smooth and quiet. And, according to Jody, these trains have never had a serious accident.
We arrive at the beautiful 32-story Rihga Royal Hotel in Hiroshima.
The first look out from our hotel's bedroom window on one of Hiroshima's beautiful squares. As we arrived relatively early in the afternoon, we immediately left the hotel for a stroll around Hiroshima.
The Hiroshima Museum of Art was directly across from us and was holding an exhibit of Beatrice Potter's Peter Rabbit story's artwork. We decided to go the next day to see the exhibit.
Right next door was Hiroshima Castle,, sometimes called Carp Castle. This is a castle that was the home of the daimyō (feudal lord) of the Hiroshima han (fief). The castle was constructed in the 1590s, but was destroyed by the atomic bombing on August 6, 1945. It was rebuilt in 1958, a replica of the original that now serves as a museum of Hiroshima's history before World War II. And yes, this castle has a moat encircling it.
There is our hotel as seen from the castle.
Hiroshima Castle itself.
Neither of us could figure out what this was.
The view back toward the other side of the city that is the center of the 1945 atomic blast and the location of Peace Park, our next stop.
Along the way we encountered a cool train displayed and I just had to climb onboard for a picture.
The Atomic Bomb Dome shortly after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. On 25 July 1945, General Carl Spaatz, commander of the United States Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific, received orders to deliver a "special bomb" attack on selected cities in Japan. The first target city chosen was Hiroshima, which had an important port on southern Honshu and was headquarters of the Japanese Second General Army with 40,000 military personnel in the city. The bomb was assembled in secret and loaded on the Enola Gay. It consisted of a uranium isotope 235 core shielded by hundreds of kilograms of lead. Little Boy possessed a force equivalent to 12,500 tons of TNT. The plane dropped the bomb over the city at 8:15:17 a.m. local time on August 6 1945. Within 43 seconds of being dropped, the bomb detonated over the city and missed its target by 240 m (790 ft). Intended for the Aioi Bridge, the bomb instead exploded directly over the Shima Hospital, which was very near to the Genbaku Dome. Because the atomic bomb exploded almost directly overhead, the building was able to retain its shape.. The building's vertical columns were able to resist the nearly vertical downward force of the blast, and parts of the concrete and brick outer walls remained intact. The center of the blast was displaced 150 m (490 ft) horizontally and 600 m (2,000 ft) vertically from the Dome, having slightly missed the original target, the distinctive "T"-shaped Aioi Bridge. The Dome was 160 meters from the hypocenter of the atomic blast. Everyone inside the building was killed instantly.
The view of the Dome today and the city that has grown up from the ashes over the intervening 72 years.
My first glimpse of the Dome viewed from the opposite side from the vintage picture.
Regardless of your own opinion as to whether or not the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was necessary to bring a quicker end to WWII, the world continues to feel the profound aftershocks of these events. The heavy weight of this feeling permeates this entire blast area and one cannot help but feel the deep sense of loss.
The Motoyasu Bridge as seen from the Dome.
Jody in front of the eternal flame of peace.
This memorial in Peace Park is solely devoted to remembering the children who perished after the bomb was dropped.
This park memorial is to remember all the children who died in the years following the blast.
Beautiful paper cranes, "origami".
When we saw this stone, we immediately thought of our good friend, Bill Delgado, a well-known and loved Sarasota Scotsman.
Following our first afternoon in Hiroshima we headed back to our hotel to recharge, take some pictures of the city's skyline, and head off for a French dinner on the top floor of the hotel.
My best imitation of Joan Rivers doing her "Fon, fon, fon!" high snot routine.
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