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 Dome for the first time and staring at it in awe. All those pictures from my history textbooks in high school had somehow lifted themselves off the page and manifested before me in real time.

How, after everything, could it still be standing? I plopped myself down on a bench to take it all in. And as I sat there, I told myself that one day I would be back to marvel at it again. Just shy of a decade later, I got to keep that promise. Living in Yamaguchi now, Hiroshima is just a short Shinkansen ride away, and so on a long weekend in February, I booked myself a ticket.

This time, I headed straight for the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. It’s the one part of the park I didn’t get to see on my first visit. There had been a huge snake of people extending from the ticket counter right out the door and I don’t particularly enjoy waiting in lines. I was grateful that, this time, I had woken up early enough to beat the crowds.

The museum’s permanent exhibition consists of photos, letters, and personal belongings left behind by the victims and survivors. It’s both a fascinating and sobering look at what really happened on August 6, 1945. The somber feel was amplified by the silence; there was a good few dozen people in the room beside me and yet no one uttered a sound. I slowly shuffled my way through, not daring to take even one photo.

After exploring the gift shop and grabbing a quick coffee at the visitor’s lounge café, I headed back out into the park. A wave of nostalgia hit me as I wandered past the Pond of Peace and down towards the Children’s Peace Monument. The park hadn’t changed much since I’d last seen it, but I certainly had since it last saw me. Funny that.

I think, sometimes, when we visit certain places, we leave parts of ourselves behind. And should we ever go back, we may find that they are still there, perhaps having been waiting for us the entire time.

When I reached the top of the park, I decided to keep heading north towards Hiroshima Castle. I would return later when it got dark to see it all lit up.

The night view didn’t disappoint. There is always something so beautiful about water reflections and lights. The park was a lot quieter, too. Not eerie as one might expect, just quiet.

And as I wandered back past the familiar monuments and pools, I couldn’t help but think that, in some ways, it’s more fitting to visit the Genbaku Dome at night. It was, after all, the only thing still standing when the sun set on Hiroshima that day.