I intended to write something whacky to celebrate the first of April, but in light of this afternoon’s visit I’ve vetoed my idea.
First off we breakfast en suite as we have an early bus to catch. Off we go to the Shinkansen station a few km away, and after a bathroom stop which, fascinatingly had a map to say which booths were in use, we head to track 12. Our “local” train is second and before that we see a full-sized one stop of as if for a photo-shoot.
The big trains are N700A and these can do 200 mph (320 km/h) however the one we take is an N500 which can only manage 185 mph or 300km/h. My speedometer only goes up to 240, it’s not really designed to measure Bullet Trains!
In 14 minutes we have traveled 40 km to the gorgeous old town of Iwakuni. It’s a former Samurai town built around a castle by warlord Kikkawa around 1600, his soldiers and offices occupying many houses below, which is where we are exploring.
We cross the river using the Kintai Bridge, first built in 1673, rebuilt exactly as before in 1953 after a typhoon destroyed the original. It’s wooden construction is very strong and resilient to almost everything Mother Nature can offer.
The region is famous for cherry trees, not unlike a lot of Japan, and our guide says they have come into bloom only in the last couple of days. Still young, the blossom is mostly white, and will turn more pink over the next two weeks before dropping days later.
The town is quite a tourist-trap, we saw mostly Japanese, and does a massive trade in ice-cream, with crazy variations like soy-sauce or wasabi flavours alongside the more traditional varieties. With more time we might have walked up to Kikkawa’s castle but not today.
Afterwards we take a coach back to the harbour, but not the ship, we go to the local hotel for a Bento lunch.
And then we head off … to ground zero.
On August 6th 1945 at 08:15, 600m above ground, the world’s first ever atomic weapon indiscriminately annihilated the city of Hiroshima, reaching 7000°C in 10 seconds. The initial heat, the following shock-wake from the blast, and later the radiation all contributed to a rapid estimated death toll of 140,000 with many tens of thousands more over the decades since, possibly as many at 240,000.
Only two years ago we toured Pearl Harbour, so I’m not pontificating about right and wrongs, there’s plenty of debate elsewhere which one can Google to read both sides of the argument. With recent events in Ukraine and Gaza/Isreal, we all know war is a bad thing, hindsight won’t change what happened in these theatres or WWII. What is most upsetting is the innocents who suffer.
Based on a block surrounded by rivers, indeed the bridge system is supposed to be how they targeted the drop, the Peace Memorial Park has been created, with a museum, various monuments and memorials, and right opposite the iconic partially surviving building seen in millions of photos ever since that fateful day, know as the Atomic Bomb Dome.
The museum is truly harrowing, unfortunately rather too busy but at least most visitors were suitably respectful keeping the noise down to a low murmur. Reading individual accounts is a truly humbling experience guaranteed to invoke tears, but one has to do it – in the words of one commentator, to ensure “No more Hiroshimas.”
We then walked the entire park, back to the Dome for more photos, and round past the burial mound, children’s monument and the eternal flame. Finally we return to Quest to prepare for our evening.
We stay poolside after our evening champagnes at Patio Bar, choosing to dine at Earth and Ocean, the name given to Patio Grill for evening service. Although cold the heaters are great and keep us warm. We both choose penne pasta, then Husband has a 12 hour braised Lamb Shank, I choose Fisherman’s Cocotte. We finish with Giant a salted caramel cookie, I have honey roasted figs. All the food is excellent tonight, the wines and service equally perfect.
The turn is a madcap Aussie Bum who pretends to be a magician. It’s amusing to see him pick on our dear friend Diane, and of course his next victim is me! He works his way around several audience members during the evening and he really is magical, or a con-artist at least. No photos as I didn’t want to antagonise him!
