Moving on from Matsuyama and back to the mainland, on Sunday 13th December I took the ferry to Hiroshima (広島), one of my favourite cities in Japan. I don’t know what it is about Hiroshima, and I’ve only been there a few times before, but I absolutely love it. It’s a well-designed city, and I like the wide streets and trams.
Hiroshima Tram
My hotel was right in the middle of town, and as soon as I arrived I knew exactly where I was. Just across from my hotel was a big Starbucks where I remembered sitting for two hours back in 2008 as I taught myself to fold an origami crane. I felt relaxed and at home. The focus of my time in Hiroshima was work, but I still had a bit of time to see the sights, and of course I started with the A-Bomb Dome (原爆ドーム).
A-Bomb Dome
A-Bomb Dome
A-Bomb Dome and River
Peace Cranes
Hiroshima Castle (広島城) has never been one of my favourite castle, but I had heard about something special that happened there on the weekends so I decided to pay it a visit.
HIroshima Castle
Every weekend a group called the Aki Hiroshima Busho-Tai perform at the Outer Citadel (Ninomaru) of Hiroshima Castle. Billed as “Samurai of the Mouri Clan, including Mouri Motonari who was active in the Chugoku Region during the Sengoku Period” who have “crossed over 450 years of time” to perform at the castle. YOu can even have your photo taken with them. 😉 A handful of fan-girls lined the stage area and I joined them, and I have to say I quite enjoyed myself. It’s just a bit fun, but they were quite entertaining.
Aki Hiroshima Busho-Tai
Singing loud!
Yeah!
You could take someone’s eye out with that!
Joining the group…
In the evening I wandered along Heiwa Odori, the main street which runs through Hiroshima’s downtown, and admired the winter illuminations which seemed to be really drawing in the crowds. The illumination event was called Hiroshima Dreamination (ひろしまドリ三ネーション) and it seems to be an annual event – this year’s dates have already been announced (17th November 2016 – 3rd January 2017).
Hiroshima Dreamination 2015
Illuminating the streets
Fun for all ages
Discovering peace
I want some of these lights!
Finally, what evening in Hiroshima could be complete without okonomiyaki, and where else to get it but Okonomimura (お好み村)?
Okonomimura (お好み村)
The sauce
Mmmm…
Food of gods.
Hiroshima – still one of my favourite cities in Japan! 😀
I like Hiroshima a lot too. It’s the perfect size city for my tastes – not too big, not too small. It’s also always struck me as being a lot greener than many other Japanese cities, which I can definitely appreciate.
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HIroshima is a fantastic city! I really wanted to move there actually, but there weren’t any jobs at the time.
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