Local Attractions

The first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima at 08:15 on August 6th, 1945. Very few buildings survived, but you can see two of them near the IETF meeting venue. The Bank of Japan building is now a museum. Near the entrance to the Peace Memorial Park which contains several monuments and a museum (very much worth a visit) is the “A-bomb Dome” or “Genbaku Dome” a UNESCO World Heritage site, and in many ways the symbol of Hiroshima.

A trip to Miyajima (“Shrine Island”) is high on the list of recommendations from the locals. Click here to see a movie about Miyajima and check with the hotels for information about tours etc.

The Hiroshima City Navigation System contains lots of tourist information and travel info in several languages, including some audio guides.

Things to See (for a Geek)

In addition to the standard sight-seeing locations in Hiroshima itself, let me recommend a couple of nearby (and one far away) destinations:

• ARIMA SPA: A small hot spring town near Kobe. To get to Kobe from Hiroshima, take the Shinkansen to Shin-Kobe (direction Tokyo) and make your way to the central station in Kobe called Sannomiya. From Sannomiya take a JR or Hankyu Line train to Rokkomichi or Rokko station respectively and then a taxi or bus up to the cable car station (“Keburu Shitta”). The Rokko Cable Car will take you to the top of mount Rokko where you will board a bus that takes you to the spectacular ropeway down to Arima on the other side of the mountain. (It’s not as complicated as it sounds, just ask for help and explain that you’re heading for Arima). If you prefer the rail-only route, just enter “Hiroshima” and “Arimaonsen” into Hyperdia and it will give you the route via Shin-Kobe and Tanigawa.

Once you arrive in Arima, if you’d like to try bathing Japanese style, just go down to the center of town and look for the large public bathhouse. Then carefully read the signs or ask for help. Bathing involves buying a towel, taking off your shoes, renting a little locker and above all following the actual bathing ritual itself. It’s not as scary as it sounds. Should you decide to spend a day or two in Arima you can find hotel/spa information here.

• HIMEJI CASTLE. Located west of Kobe in the town of Himeji, this castle is one of the most famous in Japan. Climbing to its top requires some effort, but the view from up there is wonderful.

• AKASHI KAIKYO BRIDGE: The largest suspension bridge in the world. Take a local train from Himeji towards Sannomiya (in Kobe) and get off at MAIKO station, then walk down to the park by the bridge. You will find a cool museum next to the bridge and an even cooler observation deck INSIDE the bridge structure itself. This is large scale engineering at its best! Don’t forget to play with the steerable camera that is mounted on one of the bridge towers.

• KYOTO: Somewhat further afield, but well worth a visit if you have the time. I created some web pages for SIGCOMM 2007 that you might find useful. Kyoto is LARGE and if you want to see a number of temples and gardens, you should start early (maybe get there the night before) and plan your sight-seeing carefully. On the East side of Kyoto I recommend seeing Kyomizudera and Sanjusangendo and on the West side you should see Kinkakuji (“The Golden Pavillion”) and the Ryoanji gardens. There are many more great places to visit in Kyoto.

• AKIHABARA: OK, this is in Tokyo, but... If you are flying in or out of Tokyo, plan to spend a day in Akihabara, the “Electric Town” section of Tokyo. You will find everything from single capacitors and resistors to computers, vacuum tubes [new and old], radios, TVs and everything else. It’s not necessarily any cheaper to buy electronics in Japan, but you will find an amazing array of accessories and many models that aren’t available anywhere else in the world.

Akihabara is a station on the JR Yamanote line, the JR Keihin Tohoku Line, the JR Sobu line and the Hibiya Subway line (Tokyo Metro). A recent addition to the many electronic stores is the massive Akihabara branch of Yodobashi Camera (which sells everything including cameras). This store opened in the fall of 2005 and had 3.5 MILLION visitors in the first 30 days! If you want to get a feel for Akihabara, I highly recommend the DVD entitled “Akihabara Geeks” released in 2005. In it you will experience life in Akihabara, including the increasingly popular “Maid Cafés.”