Hiroshima & Miyajima - the must-sees of Japan

What?
Hiroshima (広島) is the biggest city in the whole Chugoku area. It is most famous though as the city that first fell victim to an atomic bomb. At various places in the city there are silent witnesses of this tragedy, but most famous are the A-bomb dome and the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. Other attractions are the local food and the reconstruction of the Hiroshima Castle. Nearby Miyajima is an island that almost everyone has already seen on pictures where the grand red torii of the Itsukushima Shrine is pictured floating on the water. The shrine is listed as one if the three most beautiful places in Japan. There are several hiking courses on the island as well as an aquarium focusing on local oyster farming.
Where?
Hiroshima is located in the west of the main Honshu Island and is the capital of the prefecture with the same name (広島県). It can be reached very easily as the city is a major stop on the Tokaido/Sanyo shinkansen (東海道/山陽新幹線). Miyajima (宮島) can be reached from Hiroshima by first hoping on the local JR Sanyo train line (JR山陽線) to Miyajimaguchi Station (宮島口駅) and then transferring to one of 2 ferries who will leave for Miyajima every 15 minutes or so.
URL
Hiroshima Tourism Japan Guide Outline (Miyajima)

Even if you think Japan, China and the whole of Asia are exactly the same thing, even if your knowledge of geography and history are worse than the average squirrel, you still would have heard from Hiroshima and what it stands for: the city that has the quite dubious honour to be the first ever hit by an atomic bomb.
Every tourism site and every blog will tell you that the city is now a bustling place and you’d never know such a horror struck roughly 70 years ago when you leave the station. And it’s true. Currently the inhabitants of Hiroshima are rather involved in what the living should be involved with: baseball and food. Tourists however visit Hiroshima for 1 reason: the A-bomb dome and the Peace Memorial Museum. And as a fellow tourist I have to say: rightfully so.

Coming from Belgium I have been to my fair share of war memorials. In the Ardennes there are those of WWII. In the meanwhile the whole western part of Flanders is filled with graves of soldiers from every corner of the world and each week they still dig up some shells from The Great War. Almost all are impressive and compel introspection. All of them are a necessary stop for every human being to learn about the atrocities of war. And none of them give you the same abhorrent feel the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum does.
Roaming in the vast park around the museum you can enjoy the silence. You can stare at the A-bomb dome and contemplate life and death while herons fly by. Strangely enough it gave me peace of mind. I could have napped right there at the steps across the river from the dome. The museum however disturbs that peace of mind thoroughly. This is no place you go for fun, but it is necessary. People have to leave the museum feeling horrified, otherwise nothing would have been learned. And I did.

Given the feeling when I left the museum, I advise everyone to try and eat before visiting. Hiroshima has enough charmless looking building that are sprawling with life inside though. They almost look like bustling night markets, and if you happen actually to come in the evening, chances are big you’ll be drinking and shouting along with locals who are cheering on the Hiroshima Carps - the local baseball stars.

View on the A-bomb dome through one of the memorials.

You'll see 08:15 everywhere; the time the bomb was dropped.

Colour is also never far away.

The A-bomb dome.

For a lot of tourists one day in Hiroshima is a bit long, and they divide their time between the city and nearby Miyajima, the island famous for the Itsukushima Shrine and pictures of its giant red torii in the water. At any moment this place will be crammed with people, but I still recommend it to anyone visiting Japan. There is enough info on the net about this place, and I suggest you look up the tides before going. If you plan well you can both admire the torii walking up close as look at it from afar while it seems like floating in the sea.
A little bit passed the shrine and its torii is the Miyajima Aquarium. It’s pretty nice but nothing compared to the likes of the ones in Osaka or Okinawa, but their focus on the local oyster catch is very interesting and made it a worthwhile stop for me.

If you want to visit Japan but are doubting whether you should visit and Hiroshima and Miyajima because you’d like to stay away from the usual itineraries: don’t. These are both stops that have to be on any first visit list of Japan.