Join us on the Hiroshima Travel Guide as we visit Hiroshima Castle and Peace Memorial Park.
Last summer, our family took a trip to visit Kyushu (九州), the third largest and most southern of the four main islands of Japan. On the way there, we stopped by Hiroshima (広島) and nearby Miyajima (宮島).
It was the first time for our family to visit Hiroshima because, for a long time, we were not sure if our children would be mature enough to understand the history and implication of WWII. Many of you may know, Hiroshima was the first city to be dropped by an atomic bomb.
As my children learned more about world history and social sciences in school, we knew they were more ready to visit Hiroshima and the Peace Memorial Museum.
Table of contents
Hiroshima & Kyushu Travel Itinerary
Our original plan for 2017 summer was to travel the entire Kyushu prefecture, but it’s too large and not easily accomplished within a 1 week period. We decided to modify our plan to visit some of the cities and finish the rest of the prefecture in 2018.
For our 1 week trip, here is the travel itinerary and we’ll be sharing the posts once a week over the next 6 weeks.
- Hiroshima (広島) – recipe Grilled Oysters
- Miyajima/Itsukushima (宮島/厳島) – recipe Baked Japanese Fried Oysters
- Beppu (別府) – recipe Chicken Tempura (Tori-ten)
- Yufuin (由布院/湯布院) – recipe Dorayaki with Custard Pudding
- Kurokawa Onsen (黒川温泉)
- Kumamoto (熊本市)
- Fukuoka (福岡市)
Along the trip, we’ll also share the regional food and a recipe from each location.
Travel post format change alert: We making changes to how we share our travel posts. We want to share as much information as possible so our posts can be helpful when you decide to go visit. We also want to share as many images but it takes too long to load if they are all on one page. Instead, we’ve created individual pages for each location we visited. Please let us know if you like the new format.
Ready to go to Hiroshima and Kyushu? Let’s go!
Hiroshima Japan Guide
5:37 AM at the Shinkansen station and children are smiling! Let’s see how long they can keep the smile on for.
6 AM train to Hiroshima. Depending on the train, it takes about roughly 4 hours to get to Hiroshima from Tokyo.
Fast forward 4 hours, we arrived! It’s always interesting to see the different city trains when traveling around Japan.
There are many transportation options in Hiroshima to get around.
If you have a JR Pass, you can actually ride the Hiroshima Sightseeing Loop Bus for free. The bus will get you to most scenic spots in the city. If you don’t have a pass, you can buy a 1-day ticket for ¥400 or 1 ride for ¥200. Children are half price.
This is what a Hiroshima Sightseeing Loop Bus route stop looks like.
City view of Hiroshima. We love cities with streetcars (路面電車). There’s a nostalgic feeling about them.
Hiroshima Castle & Peace Memorial Park
For this Hiroshima Japan Guide, we visited 2 locations, Hiroshima Castle (広島城) and the Peace Memorial Park (平和記念公園). Please click on the images below to learn more about each location.
Hiroshima Food – Okonomiyaki & Oysters
When you’re in Hiroshima, one of the food you have to try is Mitchan’s Okonomiyaki (spelled as both ‘Mitchan’ and ‘Micchan’). The current main store in Hatchobori (みっちゃん総本店) has been there since 1968, and it started originally as a food stall in 1950. Mitchan’s claim to fame is it invented Okonomiyaki sauce, by adding potato starch to Worcester sauce.
You can find the YouTube video and recipe for Okonomiyaki (Hiroshima Style) on Just One Cookbook.
Hiroshima’s signature style Okonomiyaki is the 2 thin crepe sandwiching a thick pile of fresh cabbage vs. the thicker Osaka Okonomiyaki batter that already has cabbage mixed in. According to Mitchan’s website, the mix of cabbage and bean sprout came about when the price of the cabbage soared and it was cheaper to use bean sprout as a substitute. It is now part of their identity and flavor.
The other difference compared to Osaka-style is the addition of yakisoba noodles.
Sign explaining the invention of Okonomiyaki in the restaurant.
The second layer of crepe is now on top, ready to eat!
Of the famous food ingredients in the Hiroshima area, oysters (牡蠣, かき – kaki in Japanese) are by far the most well known. There’s even an annual Oyster festival around the area from late January through mid-February. At Mitchan’s we tried the grilled oyster that cooked on top of teppan (steel grill). Even though Nami is not an oyster fan, she still enjoyed it a tiny bit.
We hope you enjoyed the Hiroshima Japan Guide so far. For the next travel post, we’ll travel by ferry to Miyajima. Something dramatic happened while we were on our way to the island. Stay tuned and don’t forget to subscribe our FREE Just One Cookbook newsletter delivered to your inbox!
If you are interested in our Travel Blogs, you can view them here.
Hi Mr. JOC and Nami, as always, I learn so much from your travels in Japan to cooking. It amazes me how you can do the things you do(together) and cooking, traveling answering emails, editing, etc.
Thanks for the tips on Hiroshima we will be
in Japan in late april / may .Travelling from
Hakodate to Hiroshima and stops in between.
Hi Terry,
Have fun on your trip and please share your photos with us.
Cheers
Mr. JOC
Love this new addition to your blog. I have been to Hiroshima many times and love the “shinsetsuna” people living in that wonderful city. Can’t wait for the next story of your trip to Miyajima.
Hi Tess,
Thank you for your encouraging comment. We’ll be passing through this summer on the way to Kyushu. Any restaurant recommendations?
Aloha, My wife is Japanese, she was born in Hiroshima, I was fortunate last spring to travel to Hiroshima too meet her mom, and family. Her mom, some of her Aunties and Uncles are bomb survivers and meeting them brought me to tears and I was overwhelmed how they embraced me and took me in as a family member. Hiroshima, Miyajima Island and Japan is an amazing country from the people, the FOOD, the beauty, the culture, the FOOD, the cleanliness, and the FOOD !! ( Okonomiyaki !!) We our planning another trip hopefully in October for the fall colors.
Peace Memorial Museum is a must if you travel to Hiroshima. A little tip though, bring lots of tissues ……….
Nami, Mahalo Nui Loa for ALL your recipes and help !!
Hi Mark,
I agree with you, the food keeps on drawing me back. There are thousands of restaurants I still want to try. If there are any Hiroshima restaurants you love, feel free to share them with JOC readers here in the comments.
Thankyou so much for this.. I have cooked many of your recipes.. My 3 daughters and I are visiting Japan (Hiroshima about mid May) so will definitely try these places and recipes.
Hi Andrea,
Definitely don’t miss Miyajima when you go. It’s not far from Hiroshima and absolutely gorgeous. Love to hear about your trip when you’re back.
Now I can relate to these posts and my travel to Japan is still fresh on my mind, Such an nice country, definitely will be coming back not just twice but might be more
Hi Raymund, thank you for your comments. I’ve been to Japan now close to 20 times and each time it’s a different experience and gets better.
We are planning to visit Hiroshima with our children in December this year, as a day trip from Osaka. We are planning 17 days to visit also Takayama and Tokyo, with a few other day trips here and there. It is will be our second visit to Japan. Your other travel posts have been most helpful in our planning. The new format in this post is good. I know I will return to it as a reference.
Hi Nikki,
It’s a good idea as a day trip from Osaka as there aren’t too many tourist spots in the city itself. We spent the night in nearby Miyajima and loved it so it might be something you would consider. We’ll be sharing the Miyajima post next week.
Remember to dress warmly as Takayama gets very cold and snowy during the winter.
When I was in Japan I was amazed how beautiful Hiroshima is. Broad streets, the peace memorial… Hard to believe that people managed to rebuilt the city from scrath in such a short period of time! Goosebumps, really… Just proves once again how hard.working the Japanese really are.
Hi Alina,
Thank you for your sweet comment. It was devastating for us to see the aftermath of the war in the museum. The people of Hiroshima did an amazing job rebuilding the city and continue to spread the message of peace.