shopping

'I'm going to saddle a lampoon'. - Google Translate - Restaurant Menu. Hiroshima.

in

Good afternoon Hiroshima.

It comes as no surprise that Hiroshima looks and feels quite similar to Nagasaki, possibly a little more alternative and arty, full of businesses and quite lively..

The designer high-end shops sit alongside market stalls and cheap drugstores.

The city is very layered, some buildings could have as many as 8 floors with different businesses.

The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and Park are both outstanding. It is monumental in all aspects - the space, presentation and content. You can’t fail to be moved by this place. A fitting memorial to the first bomb, again with many human tales of destruction and suffering beyond imagination, the town totally wasted. The drawings created by survivors had more meaning than any picture or story for us. They have little origami cranes they make to remember the dead and place them at temples and memorials, they look very beautiful. It was started by a girl who survived for about 20 years before dying from Leukaemia. The stories and images are brutal, more so than Nagasaki, due to the sheer quantity. Hundreds of school children are taken through, it is a necessary part of their curriculum. 

Hiroshima, like Nagasaki, have kept their streetcar system and it looks like the flagstones that the rails are set in could be originals. It makes me think how little attention to detail we give our street furniture in England. Money is used here to make the environment better for everyone. Maybe also, the fact that they don’t bury their cables means they don’t disturb the pavements and roads as much as we do. 

There is no litter, everyone takes their rubbish home with them. Eating whilst walking along or standing around on the street is frowned upon. However, it is acceptable to drink while standing aside a vending machine.

Out of view having a sneaky coffee and sandwich.

The lack of birds took an unexpected turn whilst here. The constant electronic notification noises that we are surrounded by have now incorporated the sound of a Cuckoo at road crossings, while digital birdsong plays gently in the background of public places.

Dogs are more frequent, but are carried or wheeled about in pushchairs. Is that the worry of messing up the streets? 

Hiroshima is a series of beautiful islands which is pretty cool, so using a train and a ferry included on our JR pass made it easy to visit the island of Miyajima to see the great floating Torii Gate. 

We checked the tide times in order to see them at their best, only to find the following:

‘During the renovation works, the torii gate is covered under a partially transparent scaffolding.’

Not totally accurate. 

The great gate and holy shrine puts Pushkar to shame. This is the real way to make money from religion. A colonnade of tourism shops selling novelty cakes, fast food and cutesy plastic toys. 

I got told off for taking this photograph of the Torii Gate.

After all the shopping you get mugged by the deer. They will rip open your souvenir bag to get the novelty cakes or fast food and hassle you relentlessly. They even eat the maps which is probably all they were good for.

The deer are very funny and adorable and did make the trip worthwhile, although the victims probably have a different perspective.

Clutching souvenir bags, having just been mugged by the deer.

You just cant be annoyed with them.

Hiroshima is a nice place. We liked the city and for Japan, a lively feel in the evenings. The bars have people in them and the shops though expensive are interesting to look at. It’s amazing how its been resurrected from its history.