Thanks to the magic of Shinkansen, Japan’s high-speed bullet train, today’s destination on our third day in Japan with Disney Adventures took us to Kyoto station to travel nearly 200 mph to Hiroshima in the South. The station was clean, odorless, and featured a variety of shops and vending machines. Also, the trains have toilets and a travelling trolley full of drinks and snacks but not bottled water, so our Adventure Guides offered bottles before we boarded the train.

We sat in first class with reclining seats, tray tables and window shades. The 90-minute ride was so smooth and I wish we had trains like this in the United States. The trip was also a great way to see other parts of Japan through the large Windows. The architecture varies dramatically, with agricultural fields existing along the tracks between well-developed areas with buildings of modern and traditional design.

Once we arrived in Hiroshima, we boarded the bus and met our local guide Tadashi, who joked about being from ” Big Hero 6.” He gave us a piece of Hiroshima history and pointed out the sights on our way to the ferry that will take us to Miyajima island. The island was named after a female deity because the mountains look like a woman lying on her back.

Epcot fans will want to visit Miyazima island to see the floating Torii gate from the Japan pavilion. It goes through construction every 100 years and we were lucky enough to get pictures of it under scaffolding. You could still see a few of it, and the renovations didn’t affect our ability to enjoy the Shinto Shrine of Itsukushima, which is built over water and has some spectacular views. And even though the gates were difficult, strolling through the market, there were many opportunities to see them in different ways, including souvenir gate figures.

After the shrine tour, travelers were given the option of heading back to the shopping and dining area of the island early, or joining the local expert for a visit to Buddhist Temple called Daisho-In. The temple had a garden full of over 100 statues of Buddhist disciples and nobody knows who knitted the hats on their heads. The Dhalai Lama visited the temple and a sand mandala has been preserved under glass from his visit. Our local expert took us on an underground dark winding path while we repeated a mantra to cleanse our souls, as the temple enshrines three demons that bring the area prosperity from visiting shoppers. On our way down, we were able to spin metal rollers that contain sutras. It is said that spinning them is the same as saying them so we all felt pretty accomplished by the time we reached the bottom of the hill.

On our own for lunch, we first got some tempura from a kart before visiting one of the recommended restaurants for some katsudon (fried pork rice bowl). The region is famous for oysters and we got to see the floating oyster farms on the ferry ride over. It’s also famous for lemons and maple leaves, with many of the restaurants and sweet shops serving up variations on these items. The local deer have grown so accustomed to people and now expect to be fed, but our guides asked us to refrain from doing so. We were also advised to keep our belongings elevated if a deer approaches as they have been known to steal bags off visitors to see if they have any food.

If we were really smart, we would have eaten in the restaurant Rilakkuma. It looked adorable, or as the Japanese would say, kawaii!

We had time to shop and discovered quite a few Disney items exclusively in Hiroshima and Miyazima island, including a Minnie mouse Keychain featuring Okonomiyaki, dinner we would later, and a Hiroshima hand towel featuring Mickey and friends enjoying the area. I added a charm Stitch to have maple cookies on my belt where it joined a few charms I took to the temples we visited.

After taking a ferry back to Hiroshima, we returned to the bus heading to Hiroshima Peace Park. Tadashi told us about life in Hiroshima before the atomic bomb and why Hiroshima was chosen as the dropping location. As we pulled into the museum, our Adventure Guides explained that we could spend up to an hour inside but that anyone not interested could explore the nearby area instead. The ticket was made of recycled origami paper as the museum receives over 10 million origami crane donations every year. A clock at the entrance lists the number of days since the first atomic bomb as well as the number of days since the last atomic test. The museum exists to show the world the horrors of atomic bombs so that mankind doesn’t make the same mistake twice.

The exhibit starts with the bomb dropping. Large murals show images of the devastation and a rotunda uses projection mapping to show the hypocenter and how the bomb leveled most of the area. The next room featured some items that survived the bomb with significant damage.  It’s hard to hold back tears as you’re looking at burned clothing items that were taken off the bodies of dead children. The museum also preserves some walls from the city, including the steps of a bank where the shadow of a man who was sitting on the steps left a permanent silhouette. One aspect of the bombing that textbooks don’t focus on is the black rain that occurred afterwards and the museum also has items that were permanently stained by the black rain that exposed an even wider area of Japan to the harmful radiation.

After exploring inside the busy Museum, Tadashi took us through the peace Park, which includes a stone chest that contains books with the names of lives lost in the atomic bomb. This is not only 140,000 people who died directly as a result of the bombing, but also 180,000 people who died from the harmful effects of radiation exposure in subsequent years. The books are still updated annually. Tadasi told us that President Obama was the first U.S. President to visit the site, and he laid flowers at the memorial in addition to the folding paper cranes that were on display in the gallery.

Another part of the Park has a statue of Sadako that her classmates are fundraising for. Glass cases radiate around the statue full of origami cranes and the Museum has to rotate them near they come so fast. There are several of Sadoko’s personal items on display, indexing a few taps she stacked at the hospital. Sadako and a Thousand paper cranes, how I first became acquainted with the history of world war II in elementary school. 

Another stop was the building, which was preserved from bombing as a reminder of the events of August 6, 1946. The entire Park was once the center of life in Hiroshima, and it was almost completely flattened by the bombing.

To reach our next destination, we walked across the infamous T-shaped bridge, which was the intended target of the bombing. The bomb shifted slightly off course and from the top of the Oriszuru tower, our guides pointed out where the specific hypocenter was, which was the doctors office before the bomb and is the doctor’s office in new Hiroshima today. This is even a generation, a descendant of the doctor who was working in this place when the bomb fell.

At the top of the tower we made paper cranes and had the option of hovering them down infinity drops or holding them. When we entered the building, we could not see the glass side, which would be completely full of paper taps made by visitors someday. It was touching to see how much there Is and to see a few that our disney adventures group has added to the very top.

Our pin during the day was a rarity according to our Adventures as it does not have a Disney character. Instead, it has a paper tap surrounded by cherry blossoms and the theme of the day, “Gateway to the world”. The big theme of the day was how the city of Hiroshima rebuilt itself after a huge tragedy. One of the many surprising facts revealed through the adventure was that the trains resumed operation just three days after the bombing.

Dinner was Hiroshima’s specialty, Okonomiyaki. It’s a famous dish in Osaka, but Hiroshima’s version adds noodles to a savoury pancake with layers of cabbage, egg, pork and a delicious brown sauce. The dish is prepared right in front of you similar to Mitsukoshi Teppan Edo in Epcot and you eat right off the grill. Everyone loved it!

Another Epcot touch was the Hiroshima station design, which has geodesic patterns similar to spaceship Earth on columns.

Our overnight Shinkansen train ride back to Kyoto was very relaxing. Our stomachs and hearts were so full after an unforgettable day in Hiroshima and Miyazima island. Tomorrow we will explore more of Kyoto with an additional excursion to Osaka, which we intend to visit. Until next time, Sayonara!

Alex has been blogging about Disney movies since 2009 after a lifetime of fandom. He joined the Laughing Place team in 2014 and covers movies across all Disney brands, including Star wars, marvel and Fox, as well as books, music, toys, consumer products and food. You can hear his voice as a member of the Laughing Place Podcast and his face can be seen on the YouTube channel Laughing Place where he is unpacking things.

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