I had originally planned to spend two nights at Koya, but the weather did not cooperate. It had rained the previous evening and was still raining in the morning. The forecast didn’t have the raining abating until sometime mid-afternoon. Our compatriot, Vincent, and Connor both had separate plans to leave for Kyoto. I and several others had encouraged Connor to try to get a visit into Kyoto for his first time to Japan. Having already visited the other major cities of Japan on my two previous trips, I decided I would take this opportunity to visit the Peace Memorial and Peace Museum in Hiroshima.
It was depressing, but important. I’ll be taking the bullet train back to Osaka tomorrow morning and catch a late afternoon flight back to Chicago. I’ll see some of my co-workers on Monday and I’ll try to remember to pick up a big bag of unique flavored Kit Kats that we can’t get in the states.
Below: Peace Memorial Park Hiroshima. Note: I did visit the Museum, but didn’t take any photos inside. In some areas they weren’t allowed and other areas were horrific.
I also visited Hiroshima Castle, but obviously that has all been rebuilt since the end of WWII. Only the stone foundations of some buildings remain. I’ll leave you with a eucalyptus tree on the castle grounds that survived the atomic bomb and it still standing today.
2023 Shikoku Henro 