I can say that people who got a chance to study world history definitely knows the place named Hiroshima. Every time I encountered the name, two things that comes into my mind: first was World War II and second was the atomic bomb that dropped in the city. The world was rocked when US and its allied forces decided to drop the atomic bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaki when Japan ignores the calls of Allied forces to surrender. As the Second World War reaches its final stages, the atomic bomb triggered the end of Japan emperialism.
I knew that the there’s always debate about the atomic bomb whether at that time it was right or not. While visiting Hiroshima, I read some historical archives that Japanese regrets what’s happened in Hiroshima but they also accepted or acknowledged that their government was also responsible for what had been happened because they recognized the impact that the decisions they made at that time. This is one of the character that I admired in Japan. I remembered that integrity is a key character that Japanese really cares for. That is why when they knew they made mistakes, they took responsibility by taking their lives just to preserve their honor and integrity (Harakiri).
When we got a chance to visit Hiroshima, I was curious what the city looks like after seven decades that had been passed after the atomic bomb was dropped in the city and its surrounding areas.
We spent an overnight in our hotel in Hiroshima downtown. In the morning we prepared early and we packed our stuff back again to our luggages and left it in the hotel and we picked it up again before took train to Kyoto.
Because we have few hours left in the city before our train schedule to Kyoto in the afternoon. We grabbed our chance to see a bit of Hiroshima. From morning until early afternoon, a city famous of its historical structures and ruins left by World War II and destructive atomic bomb that still standing as of today and to continue exploring the downtown by combining the city bus tour and walking tour.
From the hotel, we went to Hiroshima Station where the bus tour – Hiroshima Sightseeing Loop Bus (Hiroshima Meipuru~pu) in the city starts. There are two routes available to tour around the downtown of Hiroshima. The first route is Orange Route – Peace Memorial Park and Art Gallery and the second route is Green Route – Peace Memorial Park and Okonomi-mura. We got a chance to take both routes but we haven’t completed the overall route because of limited time we had. When we got the Japan Rail Pass, the Hiroshima Sightseeing Loop Bus is included, that was why when we were in Hiroshima, we used the pass to get the bus tour.
The following places we had a chance to see in the city were:
1. A-Bomb Dome
2. Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park
3. Hiroshima Castle
