Hiroshima

After we arrived at the ferry station on Itsukushima Island, we trudged through the hot sunny day to the Grand Torii Gate. On the way there, we spotted Itsukushima Island’s most famous animals: the Itsukushima deer. Our tour guide told us that there were 500 deer on the island compared to 1400 human residents. Many of us took pictures with the deer, but I personally did not pet them. 

At the Grand Torii Gate, the tour guide informed us that the G7 Summit less than a month prior met in Hiroshima and took a picture in front of this very gate. We were also told that the last Jazz Geo to Japan in 2005 also took a picture at the Shinto gate. Leaving the floating gate, we entered into the nearby Shinto shrine known as the Itsukushima Jinja. Although we had been to other Shinto shrines in Kyoto, I believe this shrine uniquely incorporated its location in the Hiroshima bay. The shrine complex was located on platforms inside the bay and the shrine’s architecture masterfully channeled the refreshing bay breezes into the shrine complex. The shrine provided even more great views to the surrounding bay and some more angles to the Grand Torii Gate.

When we had completed the tour, we explored the rest of the island on our own. Although I can not attest to the experiences of others, I mostly roamed around the restaurants and stores in the Itsukushima Jinja area when I bumped into Alex Skulte and his mom. Together, we were guided by an art museum director to her recommended sushi place. This experience at that restaurant was one of a kind. We were guided into a private room with three tatami mats and served multiple courses of exquisite sushi with a quality I had never tasted before. The sushi was also surprisingly hot: the fish was perfectly charred on the outside causing the fish to melt in my mouth. I can say with much confidence that I will be disappointed whenever I eat sushi back at home in Massachusetts.

After leaving Itsukushima Island, we headed back to Hiroshima City to visit the Peace Memorial park. The tour guide brought us to the intersection of the Aioi (T) Bridge, which he told us was the very intersection that the US bombers aimed at. After standing on the T-Bridge,  was particularly shaken by the Children’s Peace Monument, which was surrounded by the thousand hand made origami cranes donated by schoolchildren all across the globe, showing how this tragedy still affects and will continue to affect many generations to come. We then entered the Peace Memorial Museum. The museum presented many things regarding the Hiroshima bombing, but I think two stuck with me the most. The first was an animation of the bombing from a bird’s eye perspective. The second was a hall with items of the victims of the bombing. I had only seen the tragedy from the relatively statistical perspective of an American history textbook, but seeing these two things in the museum and the other monuments opened my eyes to the scale of the emotional ramifications of the Hiroshima Bombing.