Saturday 17th March 2018
St Patrick’s Day
Fifth Sector Osaka, Japan to Hong Kong
15th March - Osaka, Japan
16th March - Kochi, Japan
17th March - Hiroshima, Japan
19th March - Kagoshima, Japan
20th March - Busan, South Korea
22nd March - Osaka, Japan
24th March - Nagasaki, Japan
26th March - Shanghai, China
28th March - Xiamen, China
30th March - Hong Kong
(oops this should have been done in the Osaka page)
Located in Western Honshu, Hiroshima is a major industrial centre and a thriving, prosperous city. It was the target of the world’s first atomic bomb on August the 6th 1945. People from all over the world come here to visit the A-Bomb Dome and the Peace Memorial Park, to pay their respects to the victims and to contemplate the tragedy.
Not too early today, but three days in a row! Weather looking very promising, sunny even though quite cool first thing. Just sailing into our berth in Hiroshima, not so many watching our arrival.
Same procedure, after breakfast joined our group to catch our coach and set off on our tour.
This time it’s to Hiroshima Station to catch the Bullet Train.
Watched a couple of trains passing through before ours came, boarded for a short trip to Shin Iwakini, a very comfortable and smooth ride, seemed pretty quick but no indication of speed attained. We later heard that we had travelled 50km in about 15 minutes from when we got on to when we got off.
After alighting from the train a short coach ride to our lunch stop in a hotel near the Kintai Bridge. Lunch a Japanese style meal, all sorts of dishes of indeterminate specific content, meat, fish, vegetables, rice, noodles, etc. etc. All very nice even though not to everyone’s liking.
This is lunch just for one, and a look under the covers
Then it’s back on the coach for a very short trip, took us about twice as far from the bridge as the hotel was, completely pointless!
Still, walked back to the bridge to walk across to Kikko Park. The bridge a very picturesque piece of ancient engineering designed to resist being swept away by frequent flooding. Kikko Park a peaceful and delightful residential area containing fine examples of Samurai homes and many cherry trees just coming into bloom.
We are still a bit early for the cherry blossom season but warm weather is bringing it on as we continue our time in Japan.
On again, this time to Hiroshima Peace Park.
Here, within a few meters of the point of detonation of the Atom Bomb (Uranium) stands the ruins of the so called Atomic Bomb Dome, the only building anywhere around that remained not completely destroyed by the blast and preserved today as a monument to the event. The aiming point for the dropping of the bomb was the “T” made by the river and the bridge, only missed by a couple of hundred meters, the air detonation also meant that this close to the blast the force was vertical leaving the walls of the domed building still standing. In the following days the effects of the residual radiation were reduced by the onset of a major typhoon with heavy rain which washed away the radioactive material, saving many lives.
The Peace Park also contains many other monuments, statues, pools, etc.
Many adorned with Origami Cranes, a symbol of long life, in many colours and some in long strings and formed into patterns.
A short visit to the Museum containing artefacts and info boards concluded our visit before the return to the ship.
An early dinner before we were once again entertained on the pier by a brass band playing to us as with families waving and shouting out bye bye as we sailed away.
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