This morning we rode our final Shinkansen (bullet train) from Kyoto to Hiroshima. We are constantly amazed with how smooth the ride is as we fly across the countryside at nearly 200 miles per hour.

With only one day to explore Hiroshima and the surrounding area, we dropped our bags at a local luggage storage facility in the heart of downtown – a quick process, particularly in comparison with our luggage forwarding experience earlier in the trip! Japan thrives on efficiency, so these types of services are widely used and available.

Like many others, we primarily came to Hiroshima to reflect on the destruction and misery caused by dropping the first atomic bomb during World War II. Almost immediately after the war, mostly through a community-led fundraising campaign, Japan gathered the funds to build what is now known as Peace Memorial Park. The Park, located in the heart of the City, has two themes – a memorial for those who died as a result of the use of the atomic bomb and a place to pray for world peace. The Park does not place blame, reason or any other instigation that could promote differing opinions – it simply honors, recognizes and wishes for a more peaceful future. We are very impressed with the beautiful and symmetrical layout, including the perfect alignment of the Hiroshima Victims Memorial Cenotaph (where the names of the individuals who lost their lives are inscribed), the Pond of Peace, the Flame of Peace (a memorial fire designed to be continuedly burning until there are no more nuclear weapons on earth), and the Atomic Bomb Dome. The Atomic Bomb Dome is the iconic building that, despite being at nearly the epicenter of the explosion, remained partially intact. When you see pictures of Hiroshima after the explosion, the Atomic Bomb Dome is one of the only buildings remaining. Despite building an entirely new modern City (in stark contract to the other areas we have explored in Japan, with mix old shrines, temples, etc. with modern buildings), Japan has kept the remains of the Atomic Bomb Dome as a memorial. Peace Memorial Park is a moving experience.

As we haven’t yet explored Japan by sea, we took a short ferry to the island of Itsukushima (otherwise known as Miyajima). Because the ferry traverses through inlets within the City and goes under multiple low bridges, the ferry cannot run during times of extreme high or low tides, making checking the tide schedule ahead of time a must. The island is known for its ‘floating torii gate’ that at high tide looks like it is floating in the water but at low tide allows for people to walk right up to it via the tidal flats. We visited at low tide. The gates were even more impressive in person, which we enjoyed with the sand under our toes, making for a unique visit. The island is also known for its very friendly deer and, of course, Stephanie made lots of friends! We also attempted to traverse our way to a lookout on the other side of the island, but we made too many wrong turns through the woods (the path was not marked) and instead ended up enjoying a secluded beach with a wonderful view of Hiroshima and the local oyster rafts. Across Hiroshima Bay these traditional wooden oyster rafts are deployed – too bad oysters are one of the few things we just don’t enjoy!

For dinner we visited a food hall filled with vendors preparing a local dish – Hiroshima style okonomiyaki – a savory pancake type dish cooked on a flat griddle with many toppings such as soba/udon noodles, cabbage, onion, meat, seafood, and special okonomiyaki sauce. As with most Japanese food establishments, getting seats together is challenging (not to mention navigating which establishments welcome non-Japanese people) but we had good luck and squeezed into a vendor booth with around 16 seats in total. It was such a fun and lively atmosphere and a great culinary experience!

Tomorrow we fly to Naha, Okinawa. We do not know if it has made news in the States, but across the Pacific, Typhoon Champi is all the rage. We have followed the storm as it spun into a Super Typhoon with winds up to 185 miles per hour and made its way east, now turning north between mainland Okinawa and Taiwan. The storm has started to weaken, but even people on mainland Japan are preparing for impacts in a few days. We are currently awaiting confirmation from the airline that our flight is unaffected and will hopefully be able to write our next blog from Naha tomorrow evening.

As always you can find more pictures from our trip in the Gallery!