Friday 3 May 2013

Classic Streetcar and Peace Memorial in Hiroshima City


Electric car Type Hiroden (Ex-Kyoto City Tram) 1900 stands at Yokogawa Terminal  
 
After a visit to Kintai Bridge, we took a night train from Iwakuni Station on the Sanyo Main Line. Getting off at Yokogawa Station in Hiroshima City, we transferred to a tram line on the Hiroshima Electric Railway (Hiroden).

It was already 8.30pm, and really dark around the station. We got on a streetcar and headed to a hotel in the downtown area. The rolling stock was the electric car, Hiroden unit number 1911 of the Type 1900. The 1911 had been operated on the Kyoto City Tram line until 1977. It was manufactured by Alna Sharyo in 1957, and was moved to Hiroden in 1978 to spend its second life after retirement. Although, some modifications such as installation of the air conditioning system have been made, the 1911 still keeps much of its original shape. We were lucky to get on this precious streetcar on day one of our stay in Hiroshima City.

We got off the tram near the Peace Memorial Park, which was located about 15 minutes by streetcar from Yokogawa Station. The Peace Memorial Park is close to the epicenter of the atomic bomb blast in 1945 at the end of WWII. At one corner of the park stands the Hiroshima Peace Memorial (Atomic Bomb Dome), but it remains preserved in its bombed-out state, showing its collapsed walls and bare iron skeleton. It is a precious monument intended to call for peace. Hiroshima Peace Memorial was designated a World Heritage site in 1996.

For the sake of the world peace...

Hiroshima Peace Memorial near Genbaku Dome-mae stop on the Hiroshima Electric Railway