SG Unfit Runners have been planning to go back to Japan ever
since our last trip made in 2009, when we did an ambitious whirlwind tour
covering 7 cities within 2 weeks. This time round, we were determined to
explore more of the underbelly of Japan, covering Hiroshima, Kobe, Osaka and
Tokyo, over a period of 17 days. Our first stop: Hiroshima.
Hiroshima is a place which I am sure everybody will be
familiar with. It is the city where the first atomic weapon was unleashed on a
populated area. A thriving metropolis and port on the western side of Japan,
Hiroshima has almost everything that Tokyo has to offer, but with a lot less
crowd. There is little jostling or squeezing even during peak hours in the
city, well connected local rail and tram network and it has its fair share of
local cuisine that made many of my facebook friends drool with envy when I
posted pictures of its famous oyster dishes.
We stayed at the Hondori area, right smack in the middle of
Hiroshima downtown shopping district with some of the Hiroshima’s most
important landmark within walking/running distance. We pack in so many
activities during our 3 days stay at Hiroshima, that we ran out of time before
having the chance to visit Hiroshima Castle and the Hiroshima Atomic Peace
Memorial Park. We decided to incorporate those 2 areas, which require quite a
bit of walking, into our running route, so that we will have more time later in
the day to visit the Hiroshima Peace Museum and catching a Shinkensen to get to
Kobe later in the morning.
Running in Hiroshima is extremely pleasant, especially
during the early morning hours when the traffic is pretty thin. The only risk
is trying to cross major traffic junctions through the maze of underground
tunnel and getting hopelessly lost trying to find the right exit just to get to
the other side of the junction. I will recommend runners to jog a bit further
down the road to find a traffic light rather than attempting to navigate the
underground maze of tunnels.
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| The Underground Maze |
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| A-Bomb Dome |
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| Children Peace Memorial |
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| Thousand Paper Cranes |
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| A-bomb Museum |
The Heiwakinen Park, or Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park is
situated at a fork of 2 river and is around 2km in circumference. Crammed
within this small strip of greenery, there are numerous memorials and museums.
Among these sites, the most famous of them all is the A-bomb dome, one of the
few structurally intact buildings that survived the blast of the atomic bomb.
Other interesting sights includes the Statue of the A-Bomb
children, to commiserate the tragedy of children like the Sadako, who died due
the radiation from A-Bomb and reignited the legend of the thousand paper
cranes.
Linked by an underground tunnel to the north is the central
park of Hiroshima where many of the sports facilities are located and the park
grounds of the reconstructed Hiroshima Castle. The original Hiroshima castle
was destroyed during WWII by the blast of the A bomb and only the foundation of
the castle was left. The current castle was reconstructed in 1958 and it’s
vantage place on top of the hill in the middle of Hiroshima makes the area a
delight to run around. However, be warned that you will have to navigate a
serious of stairs in order to get to the very top!
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| Park grounds of Hiroshima Castle |
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| Hiroshima Castle reconstructed |
Overall, Hiroshima is both a pleasant place to visit and to
run, with it’s numerous rivers and parks. It is like Tokyo without the stress,
with great food and great shopping. There are certain well sought after items
which we could find in Hiroshima and came to regret not purchasing after
leaving for Osaka and Tokyo.
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