Hiroshima: Hiroshima Station & /15:00 Orizuru Tower — Guide miki

What Is a Private Hiroshima Peace Park and Atomic Bomb Museum Tour Like? A Licensed Guide's Report

When we met, I confirmed the plan for the day. I had originally heard they would travel from Hiroshima to Fukuoka at 18:00, but when they moved the start of the Hiroshima tour earlier from 13:00 to 11:30, they also changed their departure from Hiroshima to 16:00. I had let them know in advance that many people spend around an hour and a half inside the Atomic Bomb Museum, and that if the museum was to be the main focus, a tour centered on the museum and the area around Peace Memorial Park would allow for a more relaxed visit. As planned, we used the Maple-loop bus and entered the museum. Among the guests, one person viewed the exhibits very carefully, so the group stayed in the museum for a total of an hour and a half. Since this matched my earlier estimate, no one was rushed and the tour proceeded at everyone's own relaxed pace. Wherever I guided them, everyone appeared in the photos with wonderful smiles. On the Maple-loop bus, it was memorable to see the guests laughing happily together over the picture of the "deer," the bus company's character, saying "What is this?" I heard they had stayed on Miyajima the night before the tour, and they said they had eaten momiji manju and bought some as souvenirs. They each cheerfully told me how delicious the custard and the cream cheese ones were. When I heard that one of the guests works as a nurse, I mentioned that there is currently a drama in Japan called "Travel Nurse" and asked whether such a profession really exists in North America. They said it does exist, that contracts are usually about 13 to 14 weeks, and that the pay is often around double that of a regular nurse. They also said that while there is an exam to become a travel nurse, many nurses quit during the pandemic, so quality can vary from person to person. After the Peace Park tour, I took the group to Orizuru Tower. One of the guests, who knew how to fold paper cranes, folded a very beautiful one. When I asked how they could fold it so well, they told me "Actually, I once folded a thousand cranes." When I asked whether there was something they had wished for, they said there was a university they wanted to enter and a career they wanted to pursue, so they folded the cranes while wishing for those. I did not ask about which university they attended or their current occupation, but the tail and head of the crane were thicker than in the usual folding method, giving it great stability and a beautiful finish. Everyone was delighted with the slide at Orizuru Tower, which made me happy as well. One of the guests had a birthday coming up in a few days, so I said "It's a little early, but happy birthday!" and taught them how to say it in Japanese, and the three friends practiced saying it. It was a heartwarming group. There is one thing I regret. One guest, who said they cannot drink alcohol but always buy soy milk ice cream whenever they find it, had been looking forward to the soy milk ice cream sold on the first floor, but I completely forgot about the ice cream and only realized it on the bus heading to Hiroshima Station. When I said "Oh, the soy milk ice cream!", they kindly told me, "It's okay, getting to the station on time is more important to us than the ice cream (since we moved up the Shinkansen departure)." They retrieved the luggage they had stored in a coin locker at Hiroshima Station in the morning, took a selfie before departing, and set off for their next destination, Fukuoka.

Information sharing: [Inside the Atomic Bomb Museum, photography and video recording are allowed, but the use of flash is prohibited.] Today, several visitors inside the museum were taking many photos while using flash. Even though everyone was viewing the exhibits quietly in the dark, the sound of the shutter combined with flash rang out, and the intense light was almost blinding. I watched for a while wondering who was taking flash photos, and found it was some overseas visitors, so I told them, "Inside the Atomic Bomb Museum, photography and video recording are allowed, but flash is prohibited," and they said, "Oh, I didn't know that. Understood," and stopped using the flash. However, the shutter sounds and flashes still continued quite frequently, so when I looked more closely, it was a photographer wearing an armband reading "Photography Permitted" who was taking pictures of school trip students. I did not have time to ask the museum today, but I wondered whether "Photography Permitted" includes flash photography, and I felt it was very disruptive for the general visitors. I strongly felt that if they are going to take photos, they should do so without flash, just like everyone else.

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Tour Report by miki

Dear guests,
Hello! My name is Miki. I was born and brought up in Hiroshima. I enjoy traveling around Inland Sea areas and I enjoy chatting with guests from overseas!

In Hiroshima, you can see many beautiful rivers and old bridges. Lately, I often take photos of Hiroshima city including bridges and rivers. There are not many tall buildings here, but I know some places you can visit and see the view for free. By the atomic bomb dome, there is a building called Orizuru(paper crane) Tower. You need to pay to go up to the top floor but you can see the view of Hiroshima city and the Miyajima Island(Itsukushima).

Many tourists from overseas as well as Japan want to visit Miyajima Island. You can see a beautiful shrine from Heian Period which is around 12th century and a huge Torii gate in front of the shrine and it is in the water. There are several ways to visit the island from Hiroshima city. If you are going to stay near JR Hiroshima Station, we will visit the island by JR train and JR ferry. If you are staying in the city area, we can go there by streetcar and ferry, or there is a high-speed boat from Peace Memorial Park pier directly to the island and vise versa.

Hoping to see you in the near future!

Miki
Your tour guide in Hiroshima