A Reflection on Life: Hiroshima

From the insanity of Osaka, after a few days, we decided to detour on JR West to Hiroshima city and the island of Miyajima, just off the city's coastline in Hiroshima Prefecture.

Most of the photo gallery showcases specific elements of the trip, such as a visit to the Itsukushima Grand Shrine, and unexpectedly viewing a Buddhist ceremony. As well as the sights of Miyajima and Hiroshima, the gallery also showcases specific modes of transportation, from the trams of the Hiroshima Dentetsu Railway, nicknamed Hiroden, to the JR Miyajimaguchi Ferry to the town of Miyajimaguchi.

The most striking element in the gallery aside from transportation is the shots of the Hiroshima Memorial Museum and the A-bomb Dome, which encompasses the pain and sorrow that was thrust upon the city more than 80 years ago, at 8:15 am on August 6, 1945, by the United States Air Force B-52 bomber aircraft named Enola Gay.

As someone who studied this event in my GCSE history classes, it felt surreal to be in the place where the Fat Man atomic bomb was detonated and the horrors that left an eerie wistfulness in the minds of locals and gaijin (foreigners) alike.

After a few days in this city; we decided to follow the sakura northeast to Kyoto and eventually TOKYO.

NEXT: Serenity in Kyoto.