Day 10 – Hiroshima

7.17AM, Kyoto Station – Another day, another Shinkansen to catch. At the moment I’m waiting for it to pull into the station to make my way to Hiroshima. The journey itself is only an hour and a half. I haven’t reserved a seat, but I’m at the front of the queue so hopefully they’ll be plenty of room. We shall see in 3 minutes – it won’t be late, that’s for sure. [...] It’s empty – early birds seem to catch many worms in Japan.

1.08PM, Hiroshima Peace Park – After arriving and taking a short tram to my hostel, I dumped my stuff and went for a walk around the Atomic Bomb Memorial Museum – it’s a harrowing reminder of just what humanity is capable of in it’s darkest hour.

Following that I luckily coincided with the beginning of a 2 hour public performance of Japanese drumming, contemporary dance and cheerleading. I think I filled an entire memory card – I was behind the performance so it was good practice for my timing and framing. I tried to get a wide range of shots. There’s lots of shows on today as it’s Golden Week – there’s a flower show that would have interested Mum.

For lunch I had a bento box on a park bench which was pretty tasty and fairly filling.

6.33PM, Reino Inn – After my lunch, I wandered round the park a bit looking at some memorials. I then found myself back at the performance area I was watching before.

I stayed the rest of the day, soaking up the sun, photographing the dancers and performers. I’ve taken around 1400 shots today and after briefly looking through, there’s some absolute gems. I’ve never done any photography like that before – it was a lot of fun. I also picked up a bit of a tan.

I’m now back at the hostel. I have an entire dorm to myself, complete with ensuite shower. It’s obvious they’re not busy at the moment. It doesn’t seem as lively as K’s in Kyoto so thankfully I’m only here for two nights. Tomorrow I’m off to the island of Miyajima.

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Tagged: Hiroshima, Japan 2011, marco fiori, nuclear bomb, things to do, travel diary