Hiroshima means two things to me: the first atomic bomb and okonomiyaki. The former, we need to remember and bear witness to in case we ever forget the suffering humans that are capable of inflicting on each other, and the latter is just DELICIOUS!!!

When we were here BC (before children) we loved okonomiyaki but struggled to find it back home, so I was very excited to be in Hiroshima again. It’s a crepe with cabbage, what appear to be rice bubbles, an egg, various flavourings and sauces, noodles (udon or soba) and a whole bunch of other stuff which you can choose (ham, squid, oysters cheese, kimchi, mushrooms etc). And to add to the fun it’s cooked on a hot plate right in front of you! One kid didn’t like it (to much sauce for her) and the other thought it was ok but wasn’t keen to have it again. So that’s how us adults went without them for our second okonomiyaki dinner in three days. They had 7 11 food. It’s really handy that they are old enough for us to duck out for an hour!!

The A bomb side is a bit harder to tackle and I thought a walking tour might be better than going into the museum which is very graphic. Between the rain and one kid being hungry, it may not have been the best choice. She said afterwards that it was even worse than she imagined and she thought it was going to be bad. Hmm, oh well, at least non-hungry kid did actually listen, which was a plus.

The Peace Watch where they count the days since 8:15am, August 6 1945 and since the last nuclear test (that was the US BTW). After every test, the mayors of Hiroshima send a letter of protest – they are up to their 599th letter.

The view through the Memorial Cenotaph (that holds the names of the known victims of the bomb), to the Peace Flame (that has burned continuously since 1964 and will remain lit until all nuclear bombs on the planet are gone) and finally the A-bomb dome (the building closest to the hypocenter of the bomb that remained at least partially standing).

“Let all the souls here rest in peace for we shall not repeat the evil.”