My husband is a history buff, and particularly loves learning about World War I and II history. Hiroshima was one of the few places he requested we go as a family while living in Japan. I tend to live in an “ignorance is bliss” world because I am super empathetic and get overwhelmed by others tragedies, so I reluctantly agreed, knowing it was going to be overload for me.
I wasn’t sure how to describe our family trip this weekend when people asked me how it was afterwards. It was great, but not in the conventional, “we went on a family trip” sense? Every fun, relaxing, or lighthearted moment we had was met with the sombering weight of Hiroshima’s history. I wanted to share our itinerary in case other people have been on the fence about going. Half the battle for me in going on vacation is that planning can take a lot of work. I hope this makes it easier for you to go, because I think every American living or visiting Japan should see Hiroshima.
PS – here is my google map saved pin list for Hiroshima!
Accommodations
We stayed at an amazing place from booking.com which you can find here. It was huge, cheap, and has four floor beds (not tatami, sturdier mattresses) as well as a playpen crib you can rent from them which worked great for our almost 18mo old. She would have been fine on the floor beds too though, they were great and each bedroom can be closed off! It was cheap for us because in Japan you usually pay a fee per guest, so we just had two plus Emme who does not count. We paid like $160 total for two nights which was a steal. This place is walking distance to the T bridge and other major historical sites, and there is a tram station across the street even closer. Also a Lawson’s literally next door to it where we stopped for snacks like 3x a day. It also had everything you needed, including decent instant coffee which was a lifesaver because I usually hate hotel coffee. He’s got little instant pour over packs for you!
Hiroshima Transportation
Getting to Hiroshima from Yokota was easier than we thought! We hopped on a rapid to Tokyo station, and at Tokyo station followed signs for the Shinkansen. You go up to a counter to buy Shinkansen tickets. They will offer you reserved or non-reserved seats. I recommend the reserved. It is 1000 yen ($10) more per person but guarantees you a seat. We did non-reserved on the way down and literally got a seat at the very last row possible, but for a while didn’t think we would. Non-reserved tickets can only sit in particular first-come first-serve cars. The shinkansen takes you all the way there, no transferring. There are nice bathrooms and lots of leg room. I am very glad we did the shinkansen over flying as the airport is actually far from the city.
We got off the Shinkansen at Hiroshima station and walked outside to hop on a tram. We didn’t realize we were looking for a basically trolley/bus at first so we were a little confused. The tram is actually really easy and popular in Hiroshima. You can swipe you suica card on entering, and then swipe when you get off. We did not know what we were doing when we got on the tram outside of course. Initially Ed just threw a 500 yen coin in the machine and we sat confused then later awkwardly walked off. Learn from our mistake. 🤣 Just swipe your JR train card, lol. There is obviously the big Hiroshima train station and other train stations, but we only used the tram while we were there. You just look for the number line you want and hop on.
Hiroshima Eats
The first night we ate at KeMby’s which we walked through the Peace Memorial Park to get to. I want to say it was about a 15 minute walk from our place? An easy and pleasant walk. They have tex-mex which was pretty good and craft beers we really liked! The next morning we found this bakery which was so good! For lunch that day we ate snacks around Miyajima.
The second night we ate at a well-reviewed italian restaurant called Parco della Pace, which was a fabulous brick oven pizza place. Emme was near bed time when we arrived and when she got her pizza in the tiny restaurant with 4 tables, decided she would gag (loudly) and scrape the pizza off her tongue, repeatedly. As in everytime she brought a piece to her mouth. It was mortifying. We thought the pizza was amazing, not sure what her problem was. 🤣 So if your kid isn’t a weirdo, we recommend this place. Try to get there right when they open at 6 because there are only 4 tables and they were all filled up when we were there.
Peace Memorial Museum and Park
The place we stayed as was walking distance from the major A-bomb related sights. Pictured first is the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall. A UNESCO World Heritage site kept as a reminder and symbol of hope for global peace. The Peace Memorial Museum and park that sits across the water from it is a must-see, if for no other reason than to remind yourself what hatred can spiral into and bring to the world. You can take the famous T-bridge into the park and basically everywhere you look see a monument related to the tragedy.
Ed begged me to go inside the museum. It was only 100 yen/adult that day, and 400 yen/audio guide that would talk you through the museum. I recommend the audio guide! Despite my reluctance, I am SO glad we went. The museum curators did an amazing job using photographs, relics, and first-hand stories to convey the true history of the Hiroshima A-bomb and its effects on humanity. I made it past the first room which has large photographs of ed-era Hiroshima, before continuing through the rest of the museum crying.
The second room you walk into is a panoramic view of after the A-bomb. It was shocking. No signs of life as far as your eye can see. What follows is halls full of stories that may bring you to your knees in tears. At the end you come to a long hallways of windows that overlooks the Peace Memorial Park. It happened to be partly sunny when we emerged.
Outside you can see the Children’s Peace monument and other beautiful memorial spots. It is a very calm, lovely park along the water. It was nice for Emme to be able to freely run around and show off her dance moves. If you sing the Daniel Tiger/Mr. Rogers theme song she laughs and breaks out this hilarious dance where she cocks her head to the side and bounces up and down. She did not learn that from me. LOL
Miyajima Island
We hopped on the #2 tram line at the station in between the park and our place after the museum. We rode it all the way down to Miyajima station which is the end of the line. Could have also done half tram/half train to make it a bit faster, but I always opt for simplicity. It was easier to just sit on the tram and not move, lol. Also there is a boat at the T bridge you can usually take straight there for 2000 yen that is much faster, but the water was too low so no boats were leaving from there. At Miyajima station you take the ferry over. There are two ferry options and we couldn’t figure out what the difference was for drop off location was. We went with the red one on the right labeled west, which was a perfect drop off spot near the famous floating Tori gate. The Tori gate is under scaffolding and will be for a while.
The real gem of Miyajima island is the deer! There are wild deer everywhere and not as aggressive as the deer at Nara. These were super chill. They did come after Emme’s ice cream at one point, but she shooed them off with an elbow and they gave up very quickly. More curious than aggressive and super cute.
Final Thoughts
Hiroshima is a must-see. We didn’t even get to see everything we wanted to and were still so happy with our two-night trip! We definitely could have used an extra day with having to train and stick to a toddler nap schedule. If you don’t have kids, you could see a ton in two-nights! Tell me if you visit! 💖