Overview
During our 12-day Japan trip in May 2025, Hiroshima was a day trip from Kyoto.
I'll be honest, I was quite hesitant about whether to come at all. I kept thinking we could use the day-trip time differently. Now I can say this: I'm so glad we went. If you have any similar hesitation, erase it immediately and add Hiroshima to your itinerary. This is a place everyone in the world should see.
Getting There
We traveled by Shinkansen, which takes about 2 hours. The ride was very comfortable. At the train station, there's a huge variety of food. You can eat there on both the way in and the way out without needing to venture far. We had some fried salmon and shrimp at a place on the way back, and it was excellent. There's also a Pokemon Shop right next to the station, don't miss it if you're into that.
When you exit the station, there are sightseeing buses that tour the city center. The route was called Lemon Route if I remember correctly. They depart from the lowest level every 10-15 minutes. The bus is designed for tourists and hits all the major spots, the castle, the Atomic Bomb Dome, everything. It reaches the Dome in about 15 minutes. Google Maps doesn't show this route.
What to See
The main area is called the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. Everything else is within it. The park is an incredibly somber place. Even as you approach, your heart tightens. There's a mystical quality to it, you can deeply feel the suffering of those who perished here.
There are a lot of tourists, especially locals, the number of school-age visitors is staggering. Schools organize regular trips here.
The first thing you encounter upon entering is the Peace Memorial, also known as the Atomic Bomb Dome. This is actually the only building that survived at ground zero. It's been remarkably well preserved. Seeing the photos of this building standing alone in a completely flattened city is blood-chilling. This alone is worth the trip.
Right after the Dome is the Children's Peace Monument. This might be the most heart-wrenching spot in the entire park. It's dedicated to Sadako, who developed cancer two years after the bombing due to radiation exposure and passed away. Her friends returned every year, leaving colorful paper cranes at this monument. Eventually, all of Japan adopted the same ritual. Even writing about this, Sadako's story brings tears to your eyes. Students read poetry here, sing songs, and leave colorful origami cranes in her memory. You can learn Sadako's full story in detail at the museum.
The museum section contains incredibly heavy content. I wasn't expecting it to be this intense. When my wife said she didn't want to go in, I snapped back asking why we'd come all this way for a day trip then, but once I stepped inside, I completely understood her reluctance. Real photographs, stories, animations, actual clothing of victims, letters, stones that survived the blast. At one point there's a photograph of two people who were literally vaporized by the bomb, their shadows permanently burned into the marble behind them. They brought that rock here. You can actually see the pitch-black imprints of people who were evaporated. How children this young are allowed in here, how they don't fill up with hatred, how they process these images, it's truly beyond comprehension.
In the park there's a Peace Flame that will continue burning until the last nuclear weapon on Earth is destroyed. Just beyond the flame is the Memorial Cenotaph for the victims. When you look through the opening, the Dome, the flame, and the cenotaph all align perfectly. An absolutely unmissable viewpoint.
We were so deeply affected by the park that we didn't have time for anything else in the city. To this day, when I think about our day trip here, my eyes well up. A place that shows how cruel humanity can be, why peace matters so profoundly, and how a society that suffered such agony can still be so forgiving. The most impactful place we visited in all of Japan. Go. Just go.