Hiroshima/ Miyajima day trip from Kyoto

Back on the Shinkansen, this time heading south, past Osaka to Hiroshima. As you all know, a somber location, although seeing Hiroshima as a bustling city we had to reconcile the present with the past, since it no longer appears the devastated city from our text books and movies. 

We arrived at the a-bomb dome first which is covered with scaffolding. Some peace (anti-nuclear) protesters milling about, and many Japanese school children of all ages were amongst us. 

As we made our way through the Peace  memorial park, we visited the Hiroshima national peace memorial hall for the atomic bomb victims and then to the Hiroshima peace memorial museum. 

This image above is the location of the fireball which developed after "Little boy" was dropped by the Enola Gay at 8:15 am on August 6th, 1945. You can see the destruction of the city and the few standing buildings near the hypocenter. 

On the Shinkansen home, I read further about whether the atomic bomb was what caused Japan to surrender and came across this interesting article. 

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2011/08/07/why_did_japan_surrender/