Hiroshima

The Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima

After our couple nights in Nagasaki we headed to Hiroshima on our route back to Tokyo. Both Hiroshima and Nagasaki of course share a similar history and although we've heard that the Atomic Bomb Museum in Hiroshima is the better of the two we couldn't quite face any more horrors. We did however explore the Peace Park and Atomic Bomb Dome which lies right at the heart of the city. The Dome was close to the hypocentre of the explosion and was one of the only buildings remaining standing so close to the blast. It's pretty difficult to imagine the devastation now with the modern buildings surrounding the park but thousands of tourists still come to reflect on what happened here. 

In the evening we headed out to various bars down town, guided by a local tourist map which highlights the best of them. It was a pretty quiet night which is a shame as some of the bars were really cool. One that really stands out is Macbar, which is apparently an institution in Hiroshima. We could certainly see why; the whole area behind the bar is stacked not with drinks, but CDs.


The legendary Mac and his bar, Hiroshima

Mac, the owner, must have an encyclopedic knowledge of his entire collection which runs into the thousands. As soon as he clocked that we were Scottish a stream of Scottish songs blared from the speakers; The proclaimers, Rod Stewart (OK not technically a Scot) and Dougie Maclean's Caledonia. There was certainly a Scottish vibe about the place with a Scotland football top hanging up along with several mentions on the walls. I wish there were more people around like Mac, you could really sense his passion for music and in sharing his collection. It's just a shame we couldn't spend another night here.

For our pictures from Hiroshima click here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/globefest/sets/72157623914531164/