Japan · The west
Far to the west, reached in comfort by the Shinkansen, Hiroshima pairs one of the most moving places in Japan with one of its most beautiful. The city that the world remembers for a single morning in 1945 has become a thoughtful, green and welcoming place, and its message of peace lands with quiet force.
At the Peace Memorial Park, the skeletal A-Bomb Dome and the museum beside it ask to be visited slowly and with respect; few leave unchanged. Then a short ferry carries you across to Miyajima, where the great vermilion torii of Itsukushima Shrine appears to float on the sea at high tide, one of the most photographed sights in the country.
The contrast is the heart of the experience: solemn reflection in the morning, then the sacred, forested island of Miyajima in the afternoon, with its own tame deer, its hilltop views and its famous okonomiyaki griddled at the counter. We help you give each its proper time.
