Walking the paths of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park at seven o’clock in the morning is lovely. With other tourists absent at this early hour, Lori and I were able to appreciate the carefully groomed grounds and their memorials undisturbed. We had an enjoyable time strolling around in our own private World Heritage Site experience.
Still quiet tired from the overnight bus journey, we spent about 40 minutes strolling the park before standing at the Cenotaph (big cement arch in the last picture) and heading to the museum just as other visitors started to arrive.
From Lori
When you visit the Peace Memorial Park, make sure to take your time and explore. Some worthwhile statues are a bit hidden in the foliage. Also, I recommend you research the back story of specific memorials before arriving. Overall I liked walking around, but my curiosity was unsatisfied when standing before a few of the statues.
Photo Insight
The trees in Peace Memorial Park are perfect for black and white shots. They droop far over the paths and are translucent enough to glow in the daylight. When processing the lead image of this post, I went a step further and lightened the yellows and greens of the original color image. This made the leaves appear almost white in the final duo-toned photograph.
I’ve experienced that feeling of being there before the crowds arrive, early in the morning. It seemed to make it more “my” place – a sort of bonding with the place. Nice, quiet pictures. Quite soothing.
Ya, really peaceful and personal. I’m glad you liked the pictures
Thanks for the comment.
It was actually kind of a shock when we left the museum and found the park to be full and bustling with visitors after our quiet morning. It was cool that we got to experience both sides of the park though =).
If we go back, I think we should consider a similar schedule for just that reason.
That is the best part about jetlag when traveling to Asia; its easy to be up and about at 6AM.
Great photos as always.
That’s true. Lori and I were up from getting off the bus so early, but ya jet lag can do it too. Thanks for tuning in! Hope to hear from you again.
Curious, how’d you get there? Wanted to visit from Tokyo but it’s a pretty long train ride and the flights were pretty expensive. Definitely on our list to see.
We live in Fukuoka prefecture in Japan and took the overnight bus.
Are you in Japan now?
No, I’m in New York at the moment, but spend several weeks in Tokyo last year and thinking about future trips to Japan. I haven’t been to the south so I want to add that next time.