Hiroshima Charms with More Than Memorials

There is probably a weight of pilgrimage about Hiroshima that might make the decision to go there a mix of dread and obligation.  Given its distance from Tokyo’s bustling glamour and the meditative calm of Kyoto, it would be easy to give Hiroshima and its harrowing history a pass.  A visit, however, is rewarded with the vibrant friendliness of people who communicate their city’s profound perspective of peace with a warmth that dashes anyone’s grim anticipation of obligation.

With about an hour left on my train trip to the city, a tie-loosened salaryman slumps into the seat across from me, his slouch indicating an appetite for a nap after his long day.  However, he perked up in acknowledgment of an incoming visitor and made every effort to orient me to the city before my arrival.  As the train approached the city, he scoured my travel book to note places to visit, sights to see, where to eat and even where to restock on the potato chips we shared.  Of the Peace Museum, he said, "It will shake your heart," in what, at that moment, was his lone wobbly turn of English.  Many people in Hiroshima are quick to volunteer a direction or a greeting, easily making them the most willing in Japan to speak English.

Before turning in for the night, I meandered through the Peace Park in an effort to digest it in small doses rather than absorbing its full impact at once.  Near the cenotaph, skateboarders did tricks in the dark.  Despite the percussion of the nearby tricksters, the place asserted an air that belied the need for legislated solemnity.

A full day begins with a return to the Peace Park.  There are several memorials to visit, the most significant being the A-Bomb Dome and Children’s Peace Memorial.  The Dome’s looming presence and mangled structure provide some sense of the impact, as does the realization that you represent one of several nationalities among the quiet gazers thinking back the 60-plus years to that humid Monday morning.  The Children’s Memorial is an homage to Sadako, a 10-year-old girl who died of leukemia before she could finish folding the 1000 origami cranes she believed would ensure her recovery from the radiation-induced illness.  At the foot of the monument are papers cranes from school kids all over who have been introduced to Hiroshima through this personal tragedy.  A visit to the Peace Memorial Museum, revises my estimation of my guide's description.  It does indeed shake the heart.

Barely 45 minutes away from the Peace Park by train is the island of Miyajima.  While all of the traditional architecture in Hiroshima was lost – Hiroshima Castle is a ferro-concrete replica of its predecessor – the temples of Miyajima are a gorgeous setting to spend the rest of the afternoon.  There is hiking on the island and tame deer wandering the downtown areas from the ferry terminal all the way up into the mountains, where it is also possible to get a close-up view of wild macaques.  The highlight of the island is the temples that are south of the town.  The thoughts of August 6, 1945 are still in your thoughts as you wonder what they would have been doing in this setting, which seems a world away from Hiroshima.  The island is a great place to dawdle away the rest of the day and take in dusk as the sun sets in the mountains beyond the iconic floating torii that is considered one of the most beautiful scenes in all of Japan.  

Hotel accommodation is available on Miyajima, but it might be just as rewarding to head back to Hiroshima to sample its nightlife or tuck into a dinner of Hiroshima’s version of okonomiyaki.  The dish is served throughout the country but the Hiroshima version is especially renowned.  Okonomi-mura, about a kilometer west of the Peace Park, is a building with 30 restaurants dedicated to the dish, best summed up as an egg-based pancake served with noodles.  Apart from expanding one’s notions of Japanese cuisine, any of the restaurants would be a good opportunity to hang out with some of the locals over a bottle of Kirin Beer and talk about travel, their hard-luck baseball team, the Carp, or anything else that you can cobble together with your phrase books and your dinner companions.

Before heading north by train the next morning, pay one last visit to the Peace Park, to crystallize that final impression of the place that you will carry back home with you.  Gaze at the A-bomb Dome, and take in the quiet of the park as elderly custodians tend to the garbage cans and sweep the sidewalks of litter or leaves.  Pause for a moment and wonder how old these women were when, when.  Then pay one last visit to the Children’s Memorial and realize that the paper cranes have been added to in the last 24 hours.  The story is still being told, still shaking hearts and nudging us all a little closer together in our shared hope, our common wish.