Drive to Hiroshima
After leaving Kumamoto, my family and I started our 5+ hour drive to Hiroshima to see its iconic Peace Memorial Park. We used toll roads the whole way, which cost about $60. The price was totally worth it because it saved us about 3 extra hours of driving. I was worried it would be a lot more expensive, but we used a toll route calculator online to confirm beforehand. Also, getting an ETC card from the rental car company made things so much easier. Even better is that tolls were cheaper because we used the ETC fast lanes (8,880 yen versus 5,890 yen). I highly recommended anyone planning on getting a rental in Japan and using the expressway to pick one up.
Stop at Kitakyushu
On our way to Hiroshima, we passed through several towns and cities. Around the half way point was Kitakyushu, which we decided was a good place to take a break. Since we left around 9 am and couldn’t check into new hotel until 3 pm, we took our time and visited Kokura Castle. Just like Kumamoto, the castle in Kitakyushu was right next to a big mall called the Riverwalk, where we could get some lunch.
Along with the castle, there were several Shinto shrines and the Kokura Castle Garden nearby. We also found statues of two warriors named Kojirō Sasaki and Musashi Miyamoto, facing off, ready for battle. The names looked familiar and I soon remembered two characters with the same names in Pokemon. It turns out that Team Rocket’s Jesse and James (named Musashi and Kojirō in the Japanese version) are named after these two famous rival swordsman. Maybe not interesting to everybody, but I love finding unexpected real-world Easter eggs and references like that.
After an hour or so break in Kitakyushu, we got back in the car and finished the last 2 hours of our drive.
Arrival at Hiroshima
After arriving in Hiroshima and making our way to our hotel, The Knot, we once again struggled to figure out the parking. At least here they had on-site parking compared to our Kumamoto hotel. We had to get checked in before we were able to park in their parking lot. I say parking lot, but they had one of those car stacking elevators. It was cool and space saving, but a bit annoying to put to your car in and take it out and they charged $15 a day to use it. There are definitely upsides and downsides to traveling by car rather than train in Japan.
Overall the hotel was nice. The room was of course tiny, which was fine since we really only needed it to sleep in and put our stuff somewhere. The best part of it was really the location. After getting settled in, we decided to take a quick walk around Hiroshima, while saving the iconic Peace Memorial Park for the next morning. Finishing our stroll with some konbini food at Seven Eleven, we ate and promptly passed out early for the night.
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park
Walking over to Peace Memorial Park in the morning took less than 3 minutes before we were at the entrance. The park is filled with dozens of different kinds of statues and memorials, as well as the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and the Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall. Both of which were unfortunately closed due to COVID.
For those who don’t know, the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima is made to remember and reflect on the use of the Atomic bomb that was dropped by the United States onto Japan during World War II. Specifically onto the cities of Nagasaki and, of course, Hiroshima. The atomic bomb decimated the city in an instance and the purpose of the park is to not only remember the innocent civilian victims, but also to be a call for nuclear disarmament around the world.
To that effect, the monument in the center, called the Flame of Peace, is suppose to burn continuously and won’t be extinguished until the last nuclear weapon on the planet in dismantled. One of the other more stand out monuments to see was the Children’s Peace Monument, which is a memorial to the child victims of the bomb.
However, the most iconic and probably most powerful “monument” in the whole park is the building known as the A-Bomb Dome or Atomic Bomb Dome. The building was almost directly beneath the bomb when it detonated. Due to the building’s location relative to the bomb overhead, the building remained standing while almost every other building was leveled. The building is a UNESCO World Heritage Site as of 1996. It was truly an amazing site to see up close. It was a stark reminder of the destruction leveled against the city, and the lives lost that day. Pictures of what Hiroshima looked like after the bomb, compared to what the city looks like now is inspiring, in that it highlights humankinds’ ability to rebuild and recover from something that will hopefully never happen again.
After the A-Bomb Dome, the park continues on, but transitions away from being about the Atomic Bomb and turns into a more standard park with a playground, library, art museum, children’s museum and more. The entire park is gorgeous to meander around, and it was filled with many high school tour groups, daily commuters, and others simply out for a stroll.
Hiroshima Castle
Right next to the Peace Park is Hiroshima Castle. It was surrounded by a moat and had a bridge we needed to cross to get to the castle grounds. Inside is a Shinto shrine and many stone ruins where buildings used to be. Obviously, the bomb destroyed all of the original castle buildings, but the main castle, originally built in the 1590s, has been rebuilt. While we weren’t able to go inside, the exterior was beautiful and the location was away from the already relatively small amount of people out and about, so it felt even more serene within the castle grounds.
Shukkeien Garden
Our next stop was the nearby Shukkeien Garden, which cost around 500 yen for both me and my wife to enter as our toddler’s ticket was free. The name Shukkeien (縮景園) literally means “shrink, scenery, and garden” and while I didn’t know that at the time, looking back I can see how that makes sense. Many of the plants, rocks, and structures felts like miniature landscapes. The garden features a pond in the middle with tons of koi fish and a bridge that crosses to the other side. There are also two paths that encircle the park, a longer one and a shorter, albeit more scenic one. While we were walking, we saw a couple taking what I would assume were wedding photos and I can’t think of many prettier places than a Japanese Garden for a photoshoot. Just like the castle grounds, Shukkeien was impressively serene and relaxing for being in the middle of the city.
Hijiyama Park
At this point, we had been walking for a few hours and were in need of some lunch and rest. A couple onigiri, sandwiches, and various other snacks and drinks from the konbini later, and we were ready to get back out into Hiroshima to explore. This time we decided to walk along Peace Memorial Boulevard in the opposite direction from the Peace Park. We saw another large park called Hijiyama on Google Maps in that direction. Having no idea what to expect, we set off.
Hijiyama Park was on top of a hill and it was a bit of trek to get up there. Not knowing the correct path to take, we accidentally took one that went through the cemetery, which was definitely not the normal entrance, but Google Maps didn’t care. Once we got to the top and walked around for a bit, we discovered the Hijiyama Skywalk; which was essentially some stairs that lead to a couple escalators that are motion activated. Regardless of what Google had to say, this was probably the real entranceway. Besides the Skywalk, there were several Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples nearby, a children’s park, a manga library and the Hiroshima Museum of Contemporary Art. The best part was probably the lookout point near the art museum, which gave us a beautiful view of the cityscape.
Our Experience in Hiroshima
We spent the second day of our time near Hiroshima by taking a day trip to Miyajima Island, which might be my favorite place I’ve visited in Japan so far. Because it was such an action-packed day, I’ll save talking about Miyajima for the next blog. The only thing we didn’t get to do in Hiroshima (besides going into the Peace Memorial Museum) is eat their famous okonomiyaki. Unfortunately, with COVID, we couldn’t find an easy way to get our hands on any.
However, we did get the next best thing… vending machine pizza! It was legitimately way too good for a pizza that came out of a vending machine, but I’m not complaining.
Overall, the time we spent in Hiroshima was amazing. It’s a beautiful city with a tragic history that it embraces in such a positive way. I would love to go back someday and explore more of what Hiroshima has to offer!
