The Hidden Gems of Orizuru Tower
Across the street from the Genbaku Dome in Hiroshima stands the 14-floor Orizuru Tower. It’s known for its specialty souvenir store and organic café, which you can easily access from…
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Plum Blossoms at Hiroshima Castle
The original Hiroshima Castle, built in the 1590s, was older than the city itself. But like most buildings, it was largely destroyed by the atomic bomb in 1945. The castle…
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Hiroshima’s Peace Park from Day to Night
I was lucky enough to visit Hiroshima’s Peace Park once before in 2015. That year was the 70th anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. I remember seeing the Genbaku…
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Plum Blossoms at Shukkeien
As some of the first flowers to open each year in Japan, plum blossoms signal the start of spring. They may not be as popular as cherry blossoms, but they’re…
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In Pictures: The Art Aquarium
Bubble Eye. Pom Pom. Telescope. These are just three of the 25 varieties of goldfish, or kingyo [金魚], that are distributed in Japan today. The ornamental fish have been used as…
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Exploring Wartime Remains on Japan’s Rabbit Island
If any island served as inspiration for ABC’s LOST (a.k.a the best television series of all time) it was surely Ōkunoshima. Featuring a golf course, pylons, old test laboratories and its very…
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The Sacred, Starving Deer of Miyajima
“…so please do not feed the deer,” the announcement played over a loudspeaker as soon as I walked out of the terminal. Wait – what!? There’s deer here? Thanks to…
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Hiroshima’s Peace Park in Black and White
I spent most of my visit to Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park sitting on a bench. This was partly due to the fact that I was supercalifragilisticexpialidociously hungover from the previous night’s festivities; after gatecrashing…