Here’s the Hiroshima half of my brief vacation with my parents! We flew in from Sapporo the day before, and had quite a to-do list for our brief time in Hiroshima!
February 10th: Our first full day in Hiroshima! Our main plan was to head to the Kure Yamato Maritime Museum. Since we planned to spend the afternoon at the museum, we used our free time in the morning to check out the A-Dome.
Our hotel plan didn’t come with breakfast, so we left a bit early to check out a local bakery near the A-Dome. We all got a couple things, and I got a hot dog pizza bread, along with a sesame bagel. Not just any bagel, but their bagels are triangles here! Bread was good. Yummy cute bakery. Their coffee comes in a weird folded lid cup though?
Then we walked over to the A-Dome nearby. It’s the only building to survive the bomb. It was actually bigger than I expected, but my mom said the opposite.
Then we headed over to Hiroshima station to take a train to Kure. For lunch, we looked through the food court, and my mom chose a beef tongue place. There was a menu that advertsied a “renewal”, so I got a set off that menu. My set included 3 slices of tongue, seasonal veggies, nanba miso, barley rice, soup, and zunda shiratama. Changing the amount of rice was free, and though I asked for a large, my rice looked the same as my dad’s regular, and my mom’s small.
My set was pretty comprehensive! The tongue was ok, tasted good but a bit chewy. Soup was light and refreshing, but I think it’s not the usual oxtail soup. The sides were super interesting! I know the nanba miso is a thing to put on the tongue, but there was some cold veggies in addition to some kind of cold beef slices.
The train ride to Kure station from Hiroshima station was smooth and took 30 minutes. Not bad! The museum was pretty cool, if you’re into war history and ships.
We ended our time at the museum earlier than we expected, so we thought we’d have time to grab a snack and check out a matcha store my mom wanted to go to. After bussing over, we arrived just past 5. You could still buy their goods (which is what my mom was aiming for), but unfortunately, the cafe portion closed at 5, instead of their official 6 time.
Instead, we decided to go for an early dinner in the area. We settled on Nagataya, a famous okonomiyaki shop in the area (yes, two days in a row, but when in Hiroshima, eat okonomiyaki). What’s cool about this place is their menu is fairly small, and they have a no-pork section and vegetarian accomodations!
The grilled oysters were super yummy and juicy! The lemon gyoza was very interesting, and I think the flavor combination actually worked. Sorry Aomori apple gyoza, but lemon gyoza is better. The okonomiyaki here was also super good, but my family all agreed that Micchan’s was better with the crispy noodle bits. I will say, the pork here tasted better though.
We had some time after dinner, so we stopped by the local Sogo mall and got boba! We also picked up a 5-variety pack from Hattendo, a local cream bread specialty brand. This started because we noticed during winter break that our local Japanese grocery store carried frozen ones, and since this is a Hiroshima brand, we might as well buy it fresh from the source. Read about my boba here!
When we got back to the hotel, we checked out the G7 Summit gallery! It was the actual table and chairs used at the time, along with the spouse umbrellas. They were eve advertising the company that made all the wooden furniture and selling the umbrellas, ha!
February 11th: The famous Miyajima day!
After a morning bath, we headed out on the 9:30 ferry to Miyajima that we reserved the previous day. As we were walking through the main road to the central area, we were immediately hit with many stalls selling street food. To start off our breakfast, my mom and I shared a plate of grilled oysters!
These were very yummy and juicy, and freshly hot off the grill! My dad bought an oyster curry bread from Hiroshima Curry bread Laboratory and an eel croquette at Miyajima Croquette. He also got a coppe-pan from Bakery Katsutani-pan which had a long line, but didn’t think it was worth the hype. I had to get the Miyajima specialty fried momiji manju. Momiji manju may be a Hiroshima thing, but frying it in tempura batter is apparently the thing to get on Miyajima.
It was very yummy! Momiji manju is nice and all, but at the end of the day it’s the typical red bean paste inside a pastry, just in the shape of a leaf. Frying it not only gave it a crisy outside, but also made the usually lukewarm treat hot and soft!
We then went to go see the main attraction: Itsukushima Shrine! More specifically, the torii gate that is normally in the middle of the ocean, but is reachable at low tide. We took our morning pictures, toured the main shrine, and looked around the treasure museum. Low tide was at 3:20 that day, so we came back later to walk up to it and take more pictures.
As we were heading back to the Omotesando shopping street for lunch, we stopped by a booth selling skewers that smelled super good. We got one each of the tongue, squid legs, and squid body. Well-seasoned, none too tough, and very yummy.
For lunch I went with Yakigaki no Hayashi. While there are a ton of places that sell oysters, this place has some non-oyster things on the menu. Plus, I think they’re famous, ha! I ordered the boiled oysters on rice, my dad a tempura udon and raw oyster plate, my mom the fried oysters, and we got a plate of grilled oysters and grilled eel to share.
Everything was super yummy (as expected). The menu said the grilled oyster plate would come with 3-4 depending on size, but we ended up around 2 extra! These were already a considerable size, but they either weren’t big enough, or maybe we got a bonus. I am a little annoyed that I tried to order in Japanese, and the waitress talked back to me in Chinese. She was probably trying to be helpful, and probably recognized my family were Chinese-speakers, but that threw me off.
I saw people carrying the same cup everywhere I went, and I really wanted to try the lemon soda. When in Hiroshima, eat lemon I suppose. What’s cool is that if you buy a cup, you can bring it back to any stand in the area for a 200 yen refill. The soda was refreshing, not too sweet, and not too tart.
It was still a little early for low tide, though the water level had considerably dropped since the morning. We walked over to Daishoin Temple, and explored the area. As 3 approached, we headed back to the torii gate and walked right over to the base! That was pretty cool.
Our original plan was to take the ferry at 5 back, but we were done early enough to make the 4 ferry. After resting a bit at the hotel, we headed out around 6 for dinner at a mazemen place I found! The menu is English friendly, and super customizable. I got a small bowl of cold noodles, with extra cabbage and chashu, with zero spice.
I prefer a cold noodle for the chew, and this was yummy! There was just a bit of sauce to mix with, and it was just slightly tangy and savory. I do wish the chashu was hot though, but that could probably be a user error.
We were a fan of boba from the day before, so we went back after dinner for dessert! Read about my boba here!
February 12th: This was our Hiroshima Castle and Peace Museum day! Unfortunately, this was the one day on our trip when the weather decided to not be good, and rained quite a bit.
We took the morning easy, and headed out around 10 to go see Hiroshima Castle. Well, the replica of it at least, since the real one was destroyed in the bomb.
That was the plan, until I got off the bus and realized my pants were soaked through with mysterious liquid. My working theory is that it must have happened when I scooted over from my window seat to the aisle seat on the bus, as the whole ride I felt fine. The stop right before mine, the girl in the aisle seat got off the bus, so I switched seats to make getting off the bus easier. Maybe it was rain water, but who knows.
We made a quick detour at the Sogo mall to buy an emergency pair of pants, and by then, it was time for lunch. I decided on a nearby ramen place, which is a Hiroshima chain I believe. It seems like they specialize in three different soups, but I went with their light tonkotsu.
The gyoza was cute and lived up to its bite-sized name, and this karaage was super crispy! It actually reminded me of Hokkaido zangi because the skin was pretty gingery. The ramen was super good! Soup had that classic tonkotsu flavor but wasn’t too heavy, noodles were super thin, and the chashu was sliced thinly.
Then we made our way to Hiroshima Castle! It’s considerably big, with a museum inside its main tower. I still cannot get over the pun for the mascot.
My dad wanted coffee, so we stopped for a quick break at a coffee shop near the Peace Park. Unfortunately, it looks like aside from orange juice, they only serve coffee here. Not even tea. Truly a coffee specialty store, but the barista offered me iced or hot milk as another alternative. As a note: it’s not a one-order per person system, but one-drink per person. I tried getting an ice cream at first, but that still required a drink.
If you’re a coffee person, I recommend this place! The interior is stylish, and the cups they use are very interesting. They really filled the drinks right up to the brim, and my mom’s latte art was beautiful. I only got milk, but their foam is good too.
Right before our Peace Museum reservation, we stopped by the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park Rest House. It acts as both a historic site, tourist information center, and mini museum. The basement has been kept intact from the bombing, and has a mini exhibition on the man who survived the bomb.
Our Peace Museum reservation was at 4:30pm, because we read online that the last hour was was reservations only. There were still a quite a bit of people; that and the exhibition displays really took up time. It was quite a sad, but truly impactful museum. Highly recommend going, and I’m not much of a museum person.
My dad was craving hot pot, so I looked up shabu places in the area. After trying one that was full with reservations, we managed to get into a beef tongue specialty shabu place with no prior booking. This place was quite bougie, but the experience was nice!
They do charge a service fee, a whopping 1500 yen per person. In exchange though, you do get a “free” appetizer of a pretty comprehensive oden set. You can either order a course menu here, or do single items. We opted for the single item, and got a beef tongue shabu for 3, with a grilled beef tongue, extra veggies, and extra beef.
The oden stock was a bit acidic for my tastes, but the actual items were good. We were a big fan of the starter shabu set, as the tongue was really tender. There was a little too much green onion on the veggie plate, but that could just be a my family problem. We did order extra meat, but for the price, there were very few slices. Of course, you are paying for quality over quantity.
February 13th: Time to part ways with my parents and head back to Sapporo!
After one last bath at the hotel, we taxied over to Hiroshima Airport. It’s a small and cozy airport, probably on the same tier as Aomori. There’s a convenience store on the first floor, the second is where departures and all of the souvenir shops are, and the third floor is the restaurant floor. We did brief souvenir shopping, and bought some cream breads from the Hattendo stand for breakfast. I opted for the lemon, because lemon is a thing in Hiroshima, and we didn’t try this in our 5 pack.
The lemon was actually really subtle! It was mostly a light cream, with a bit of lemon jelly in the middle. Quite refreshing.
My flight was at 10:50, and about 30 minutes before boarding, I said my goodbyes to my parents and went through security. Note for Hiroshima Airport: there is absolutely nothing to do past security here. There’s two souvenir shops, a couple momiji manju vending machines, and that’s it. It’s so small that there are only 4 gates! They’re not even numbered; it’s just A, B, C, D. I did buy a momiji manju pack, with red bean, matcha, and houjicha flavored ones. A final Hiroshima souvenir!
My flight was so small that I was the only person in my 3-person row! There were quite a lot of empty seats, and everyone boarded in no time. We took off a bit early, and landed earlier than predicted too!
My goal for lunch when I got back to Sapporo was to go to Nana’s Green Tea to try out their current seasonal white chocolate oolong parfait, which was set to end the next day before switching over to the sakura one. (Don’t worry, I would have gotten a soup for savory lunch before the parfait) It’s been around for a few weeks, but I haven’t had a chance to try it yet. Unfortunately, both Sapporo Nana’s had ended their campaign for it already.
I ended up in Parco when scoping out the second Nana’s, and decided on eating at Roast Beef Yoshimi. There were a few half-and-half bowls that looked good, but I settled on the half roast beef and half Hokkaido galbi bowl. The set came with miso soup, potato salad, and pickles. The egg yolk actually came on the side for you to crack yourself and put on your bowl. I guess this is good for those that don’t want the egg.
The miso soup here has tofu, seaweed, and mushrooms! Potato salad was ok, and pickles were standard. The roast beef was very good, with the classic dressing Japanese people use. The galbi was ok, but I liked the marinade.
The floor below had a Jujutsu Kaisen pop-up! I didn’t want anything in particular, but that was cool.
I’m in Sapporo, so before leaving I got to get my boba fix. I grabbed a drink at Gong Cha just before my bus. Read about my boba here!
Then I took the 4 bus to go home!
We stayed at the Grand Prince Hotel Hiroshima. It’s quite a beautiful hotel, with an exclusive ferry to Miyajima, and they are quite proud of the remnant G7 Summit items. They also have an onsen here, with facilities including two hot baths, a steam room, and an outdoor bath. The outdoor bath here has a really nice view out into the ocean. I found it interesting that there was a steam room yet no sauna, as usually there’s at least a sauna but not necessarily the steam room. I’m typically not a steam room person because it feels like I’m suffocating, but this one was bearable, and had an essential oil aroma that made it less suffering. The bath, barring any special circumstances, does cost 2000 yen to enter though. The first paywall bath I heard of.
The main downside I found with this hotel was the location. The hotel is on a tiny island connected to the mainland by a single street. Aside from restaurants in the hotel, there’s only a yakiniku place on the island. The hotel has a free shuttle bus to Hiroshima station that runs somewhat frequently every hour, and a normal local bus that runs normally every 30 minutes to an hour. Be careful not to miss the last bus though. Then you’d need a taxi.
This was Part 2. Part 1 of my trip is here.
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