Tag Archives: hiroshima

Lantern Festival in Hiroshima

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For the Obon summer vacations I went to see my wife's family in Hiroshima. Although I've been there 4 or 5 times before, it was the first time that my visit coincided with the anniversary of the atomic bomb blast on August 6th and the 灯籠流し — lantern festival. To commemorate the victims, we float tens of thousands of lanterns representing the dead's souls on the river in front of the 原爆ドーム — the A-bomb dome.

灯籠流し -- Lantern Festival in Hiroshima

Despite buying a nice Manfrotto tripod for the occasion, I'm a bit disappointed with my photos of the event... The conditions were not optimal, after queuing up for more than an hour to launch our lanterns on the river, I started shooting. But the unbearable heat (the high riverbanks blocking any wind and the hundreds of people crowding the launchpad and the bridge were not helping) as well as my wife and her friends clamoring for retreat towards a cold beer and plenty of wine at a nearby restaurants meant I took a mere 20 quick shots and left with my shirt completely soaked.

Hiroshima-ben senbei

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2 weeks ago I went to Hiroshima for the weekend with my girlfriend. We had dinner (and innumerable drinks) with a friend of hers on Saturday night in the 本通 area at what must be the restaurant with the most perfect レバー焼き鳥 I've ever tasted.

Anyways, I received as omiyage the following which made me laugh a lot:

hiroshima-ben senbei

It's a set of senbei rice-crackers inscribed with examples of 広島弁, the local Hiroshima dialect. Whenever we're in Hiroshima, my girlfriend reverts to her roots and drops the Tokyo accent she acquired, especially when she's with her high-school friends. I'm usually totally lost...

4 days in Hiroshima

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So I'm back from Hiroshima as you must have seen in the little Twitter column on the right. Had good fun with the girlfriend, here's a quick roundup:

Friday - arrived at 4PM, saw Spiderman 3 (was kinda lame), ate Italian
Saturday - went to Iwakuni to see the 錦帯橋, nice bridge, ate yakitori and drank 日本酒 in an izakaya near 本通

kintaikyou in iwakuni

Sunday - picnic by the riverside with homemade bento from Aiko's mother, dinner with family for Mother's Day, ate stuffed duck neck (French food I received last week)
Monday - walked around 平和公園 and Namiki-dori all afternoon, my flight was late so I missed the last train home and had to sleep in Tokyo

Back to Hiroshima

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I'm leaving in 20 minutes for Hiroshima to see my girlfriend. I'll be there until Monday night and will get back to work on Tuesday morning.

With the nice weather, I'm hoping we'll get to make a nice picnic next to one of the many rivers in Hiroshima. I'll try not to catch the flu this time...

Hiroshima Report

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I'm back home, in good old Saitama. As usual, the trip went like a breeze, I arrived 20 minutes before my flight, checked in, passed security and boarded my flight all in one stride. Not the shadow of a line anywhere, a wonder for french guy used to american and european airports. Then once I got to Haneda, I still had 2 hours of train to reach the hell-hole of Saitama where I live... まあね、しょうがない！

a-bomb dome in hiroshima

In the 4 days I had left, having lost 3 to the flu, here's what I managed to accomplish:

  • Visited 平和公園 and the Peace museum, as seen in the attached photo of the A-bomb dome.
  • Went to 宮島 and got to see all the sights. However I missed the monkeys at the top of the island since the ropeway was not open yet and the fast road by foot had been destroyed by a typhoon and they were rebuilding it.
  • Checked out the Hiroshima Museum of Contemporary Art.
  • Shopping in 本通, the little Shinjuku of Hiroshima.

You might say "It ain't much!" but the purpose of the trip was to spend time with my girlfriend who moved out 2 months ago, not sight-seeing. That mission was accomplished. I'll post more photos of stuff I saw in the coming week.