Hiroshima

 Jake had some extra leave so we decided to cross a trip off of our Japan bucket list.  Hiroshima did not disappoint, despite the bad weather and several museums being closed due to COVID.  We loved experiencing the hope these people have created overcoming the tragic history the city tells.  Peace surrounds the memorials and people in Hiroshima.

On Monday we took the train to Tokyo Station.  We bought ekiben (bento boxes made for eating on the Shinkansen).   The boys got fancy looking sandwiches and Jake and I got some Chinese dumplings and bentos with a fun variety of Japanese foods.  Then we boarded and headed to Hiroshima via a 4 hour bullet train (Shinkansen) ride.  It was really fun for the boys, especially for the first hour or so, nd then they needed to be entertained a bit.  We were once again the loudest passengers around, but we had a lot of fun and no one complained.

When we did get to our airbnb we were pleasantly surprised to find that we had a view of the A bomb dome from our patio.  Then we headed out to take a stroll around the Peace Memorial Park.  We saw several of the memorials, read about stories from survivors and tried to explain what happened to our kids.  That night many restaurants were closed, but we finally found a café near the park.

Pillow fun at our airbnb

The next day it was a rainy day.  It poured at times, soaking us.  At least we found some fun despite the rain.  Since rivers are already wet we decided to play near the river.  It is good we did it in the morning because by afternoon the stairs we were playing on had disappeared in the rising river.

We then headed over to the Children's Museum, which was closed due to COVID, but we still wanted to check out the train outside.  We found some fun statues as well.

Then we headed over to Hondori Street, which is a covered pedestrian street full of shops, restaurants, and a break from the rain.  We found some souvenirs and some really fun shops.

For lunch we stopped at a mall devoted to Okonomiyaki (yes a whole mall with at least 15 different restaurants serving up their best okonomiyaki), which is actually a famous dish from Osaka.  But, in Hiroshima they've developed their own version of the dish which I actually prefer.  Traditionally okonomiyaki is a savory seafood pancake (maybe it was because it was so new to me, but I didn't enjoy it my first time....it was also covered in bonito fakes which are not my favorite).  In Hiroshima they make the pancake with noodles in the pancake.  The restaurant we picked was delicious, we got the seafood special.  It had oysters, shrimp, fish, and lots of cabbage in it...and none of my dreaded bonito flakes.  We got the boys grilled chicken and a bacon okonomiyaki.  They didn't love the meal but at least ate our edamame appetizer 😆.  Overall still much more of a success than our first attempt at Okonomiyaki.

When we got so tired walking around we hung out at our place and watched a movie together.  Kai decided he needed to learn to wear a mask and made one out of a clean diaper.

The weather cleared a bit and we spent the late afternoon walking around the Peace Memorial Park, checking out the memorials we hadn't seen the day before.

Below is the Children's Peace Memorial, and it explains why there are so many paper cranes.  A young girl, who was 2 at the time of the bombing was diagnosed with leukemia several years later as a result of the radiation of the bombing.  As she was sick she kept herself busy folding paper cranes, believing this could help her recover and she folded them up until her death.  Now approximately 10 million paper cranes are offered to this memorial each year

Now we had an embarrasing/funny experience.  The memorial shown below is beautiful and peaceful right outside the museum.  However we created a bit of an incident when Kai decided to go wading out into the reflection pool.  Jake had to wade out into it to retrieve him.  The other visitors around us got a good laugh, and we'll always remember this memorial more because of it.

The next day we headed to Kure to check out the Japanese Maritime Self-defense Museum.  It was fun for the kids and we even got to explore inside a real submarine.  And then, to our boys delight, we went to a café nearby that served German pancakes (or as we like to call the hootenanny pancakes).  Jake and I stuck with the curry.

Kai loved these dog statues

This is the submarine we went inside

After lunch we checked out the  museum across the street which was also a maritime military museum

Then we took the train back to Hiroshima and went to check out Hiroshima Castle.  The castle was destroyed in the bombing, but has been rebuilt.  It's grounds served as a headquarters for the Japanese army at the time of the bombing and so there were several ruins from that.  Also there were a few trees on the property that had survived the bombing, which is amazing to me.

The next day we spent at Miyajima, which is a must for any visitor to Hiroshima.  It is a beautiful island with lots of  history.  There are almost tame deer all over and walking paths all over the island, with so much to do.  We loved it so much we went back our last day as well.

Taking the ferry over, and we even got to see oyster farms

This deer walked right up to our stroller pulled a map off the top and proceeded to eat it.  Jake played tug of war with her and then won back the last of our map.

Our first big stop was the aquarium.  We saw cool fish and dolphins.  And they had a display of an oyster farm.

These finless dolphins were cool

For lunch we stopped at a local restaurant and I got soba with a side of sea eel ( a local delicacy).  I wanted to try it, but wasn't brave enough to order it as my main entrée.  It ended up being delicious.  Glad I tried it.

Then we headed to the famous floating shrine, Itsukushima Shrine, to check it out.  It was low tide so we played in the tide pools near the tori arch (which is unfortunely being restored and was covered in scaffolding).  If the tide is high the whole shrine appears to be floating, but both days we visited we were closer to low tide.  Our kids loved all the crabs and sea life.

The arch in the background covered by scaffolding

The shrine is in the background

The last thing wee did on our first day was ride the gondola up to one of the mountains so we could see all the neighboring Islands in the inland sea.

Waterfall on the walk to the gondola

Pace is a rock climber

The next day we went to the Museum of History and Folklore.  The island, shrine, and area had such an interesting history.  It was fun to learn all about it.

We spent a lot of the day playing in the tide pools and playing in the sand at the beaches.

We also learned that the island is famous for making rice scoops.  We bought some as souvenirs and also bought some local treats, momiji Manjo which were absolutely delicious.

That night our kids were so tired we found them sleeping like this.  Love how kids sleep.  We obviously played hard.  And our kids did so well on the bullet train home.

It was an amazing trip.  Glad we got a chance to explore Hiroshima.