Day 13 – Hiroshima

MIyajima

Today we made a day trip to Hiroshima from Kyoto. First off was a ferry boat ride to Miyajima, which in Japanese means Shrine Island. I was struck by the view and the clarity of the sky. We were surrounded by deer, beach and an amazing view. Miyajima is also the birthplace of the Shamoji (flat rice spoon).

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park

On our way to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, in front of the A-bomb dome, we met Mito-san, an in-utero survivor of the Hiroshima atomic bomb attack in 1945. He had several binders strewn on a table in several different languages with pictures of his family and history about the atomic bomb attack. We spent quite a while flipping through the pages of these binders. Mito-san also has a blog where you can read more about the attack on Hiroshima here. There is also a short documentary inspired by Mito-san called “That Day” produced by Rebecca Irby and Richard Mirocco. You can view the film at their website here.