Hiroshima: Andersen — Guide miki

What Is a Private Hiroshima Walking Tour Like? A Licensed Guide's Report on the Peace Memorial Park

The guests were from Oceania. It turned out that all three of us, including myself, were born in the 1960s, which brought smiles all around.

We had arranged to meet in the hotel lobby (13th floor), but today's guests were also waiting on the first floor of the hotel. I contacted them just before the tour was due to start, so there was no problem. On previous occasions, guests staying at this hotel had also, for some reason, been waiting in a garage-like area on the first floor. As a guide, the view from this hotel's lobby is superb, and the lobby is fully air-conditioned with restrooms available, so meeting in the lobby is preferable. From now on, I intend to make a point of telling guests several times to meet in the lobby on the 13th floor. Incidentally, this time too I had told them multiple times to "meet in the lobby."

The guests greatly enjoyed today's tour. When I asked about their preferred route for the day upon meeting, one of the guests mentioned having a bad knee. In advance, they had requested to take a break somewhere during the tour, so I had prepared several options. When we met today, they said they would like to "drink matcha in a garden," but the walk from their hotel to the garden was a bit of a distance and I felt it would not be good for the knee, so I suggested dropping the garden and castle and instead focusing on the Peace Memorial Park, the A-Bomb Dome, and the hypocenter. They agreed, so I changed the plan. I had also told them in advance that the Peace Memorial Museum tends to be crowded and that the wait can be over an hour, suggesting they visit on their own. However, I learned that right after today's tour they would be heading to Kyoto on a shinkansen departing shortly after 2 pm, so I checked again, offering to take them if they really wanted to see the museum, but they said that if the wait was long, they would skip it. Since they had come all the way to Hiroshima and were interested in the museum, I suggested the smaller but worthwhile Peace Museum at Fukuromachi Elementary School. They said they very much wanted to go, so we decided to visit there.

We walked from the hotel to the Hatchobori bus stop, and while waiting for the bus, I shared a brief history of the Fukuya department store and what it was like during the war. The bus came quickly. Rather than the A-Bomb Dome side, we took the bus to the museum side of the Peace Memorial Park and began our tour of the Peace Park memorials from there. As of this morning, the museum's reservation status showed tickets sold out from around 10 am to 1 pm. Many elementary school students were lined up in front of the museum, and buses kept arriving one after another.

I guided them to the cenotaphs in the park in order, and after explaining the Children's Peace Monument, I said, "People usually line up in a long queue to ring the bell, but since it's a weekday, no one is lined up today—would you like to ring it?" But when we got to the bell, to our surprise the chain for ringing it had been removed. It turned out that a sparrow had built a nest inside the bell, and a sign read, "We would be grateful if you could warmly watch over the baby sparrows until they safely leave the nest." It gave everyone a warm feeling. Looking at the origami booth by the Children's Peace Monument, one of the guests said, "Yesterday was my daughter's birthday. She likes red, so I'd like to buy something like a beautiful piece of cloth." I told them, "The image color of the Hiroshima Carp is red, so you might find something," and we decided to check the shops inside the Rest House and the Orizuru Tower. At the Rest House, they found and purchased red crane earrings. I mentioned, "Regardless of nationality, many guests are looking for crane earrings." I was glad they found the red item they liked. As we went along, one of the guests would rest whenever they saw a chair. Thinking the knee might be painful, we proceeded with the tour while resting whenever there was a place to sit.

While looking at the A-Bomb Dome, one of the guests said, "Amazing, there isn't a single piece of graffiti on the Dome!" I replied, "Not one? Perhaps it's because the Dome is now managed," and when I mentioned an unfortunate situation happening in Miyajima recently, they were indignant, saying, "It's a World Heritage site, that's just wrong!" Over the past six months to a year, tourists have started sticking stickers all over the postboxes and pole-like structures in Miyajima, and after someone liked it on social media, the stickers increased even more. When I shared this fact with someone who makes videos about Miyajima and asked how they, as an island resident, felt about it, they replied that they wanted to consult the appropriate authorities. The guests told me about how the safety of the area where they live had suddenly worsened. Hearing that reminded me of my surprise when a town where I once lived overseas turned into a ghost town in just half a year, and when I shared that story, they looked very sad. When I said that if you notice something feels off in a town, you have to take some action or it can lead to something truly regrettable, they said that was exactly right.

After seeing the A-Bomb Dome and Aioi Bridge, we entered the Orizuru Tower to look at the shop. I explained that repairing the Dome takes a lot of time and money. I also told them that part of the cost of the origami paper purchased at the Orizuru Tower is used for Dome repairs. In addition, I explained that cranes folded on the observation deck and released from the drop platform are displayed on the wall of the building.

Before leaving the Orizuru Tower shop, I checked again whether they wanted to go to the observation deck, and surprisingly they said they wanted to go up, fold cranes, and drop them, so we went straight to the observation deck. It was a hot day today (28 degrees), but there is always a refreshing breeze on the observation deck, the view from above is lovely, and the guests were delighted. For a guide, too, it is a convenient spot because you can see at a glance the places I want to explain in Hiroshima—Hiroshima Castle, the Peace Memorial Park, the A-Bomb Dome, the hypocenter, and more. Especially in rain or bad weather, going up here has great benefits for both guests and guide. The view from above shows the park we had just walked through, the T-shaped bridge that was the target, the A-Bomb Dome, and so on, so the guests could revisit the places they had walked, nodding as they looked. And since you can also see the hypocenter we were about to visit, when we went to the hypocenter they seemed to truly grasp the scene they had seen from the Orizuru Tower. In the park, I also talked about baumkuchen and Ninoshima, which had housed German prisoners of war. Since you can see Ninoshima from the observation deck, they seemed to firmly understand that German prisoners had been there.

Folding the crane was a struggle for one of the guests, but when the cranes were finished both were very pleased. As a demonstration, I folded a crane too. When I offered it to them as a souvenir, they carefully placed it in their bag.

Before entering the main shopping street, I explained the history of okonomiyaki and the okonomiyaki restaurants in the area. As we walked down the main street, I verbally confirmed the plan to go to an A-bombed building, the Peace Museum at Fukuromachi Elementary School. One of the guests was looking for another souvenir for their daughter, who had just had a birthday. In fact, with a wedding coming up, they said, "It may be an old-fashioned idea, but I'd like to look for a traditional red cloth like a jewelry holder." Unfortunately we couldn't find one in Hiroshima, so they said, "I'll look for it in Kyoto," the next destination on their trip.

We took a break at an A-bombed building, a bakery (Andersen). One of the guests bought sweets and the other a sandwich, and they were pleased that the sweets were not too sweet and tasted good.

When we entered the Peace Museum at Fukuromachi Elementary School, a staff member came over saying, "There's something I'd like to tell you," which surprised me, but it was a notice that "60 elementary school students will be coming to visit shortly." This is usually a museum where you can view things quietly, so I was surprised to hear 60 students, but perhaps because the timing was staggered, no one came while we were watching the important video, so we could view it at our leisure and I could explain the exhibits slowly. Since they watched the video carefully, when I took them to the places that appeared in the video, they looked at them with deep emotion, saying, "Ah, so this is that place."

Since we still had time to spare, I asked whether they wanted to walk a bit more through the shopping arcade or take the streetcar back to the hotel, and they said they wanted to return to the hotel early by streetcar. Before boarding the streetcar, I introduced one more A-bombed building, and then we took the streetcar back to the hotel. When I told them we still had about 15 minutes of tour time and asked what they'd like to do, they said, "It was a wonderful day, we spent it meaningfully. We're going to Kyoto after this, so it's fine to end the tour early." So I expressed my thanks on the first floor of the hotel, and the tour ended at 13:15.

Click here for more details: Hiroshima Peace Park Customized Tour with Licensed Guide

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