Inside Hiroshima | Japan's Most Infamous City (NOT what we expected!)

At 8.15am on the 6th of August 1945 the world changed forever. For the first time in human history during the closing stages of World War II a nuclear weapon was released on a city and its population. Over 100,000 civilians perished in the immediate aftermath and many more from the resulting injuries and fallout in the years after. With nearly 80% of the city's buildings completely wiped out from the blast, this once vibrant metropolis of 350,000 people was almost wiped off the face of the earth in seconds. This is Hiroshima, a city rebuilt and once again thriving but one that will remain forever synonymous with the events of 1945. In this second leg of our Japan Express tour with G-Adventures, we headed out of Koyasan and south through Osaka towards Hiroshima to discover more about this city, its people and of course its tragic history. Hiroshima may stand as a symbol around the world for the heartache that human beings can cause on one another but it's also much more than that. It's a vibrant buzzing metropolis with incredible food and amazing places to visit and in this video we want to share all sides of Hiroshima but after arriving in the city there's nowhere else to start than the Peace Memorial Park. This spot right here was actually the epicenter of the blast and the temperature in the city immediately after the blast was between three and four thousand degrees centigrade. That morning almost all reminders of life were destroyed in this part of the city as the blast swept through and the fact that this building in particular remained was just pure luck. After leaving the memorial park we wanted to discover more about life in a vibrant modern Hiroshima and where better to do that than in Kozo's favorite local hole-in-the-wall to try a local speciality. This is Okonomiyaki, a Hiroshima speciality made expertly in front of our eyes by this beautiful lady who has been perfecting her art since childhood. It's hard to describe how incredible this dish really is. Udon noodles fried with cabbage, eggs, beansprouts, a splash of sauce, seaweed and some bacon or shrimps is just the most unbelievable combination. Many people call this the Japanese pizza but to be honest Okonomiyaki should be So it's the next day and we've headed out of Hiroshima itself and we're going to a place called Miyajima island and the weather today on paper is pretty grim. The rain's coming down, it's just spitting but it's very grey but to be honest it's absolutely beautiful and it couldn't have been better for the actual trip we're about to do. We're about to go on a boat across to Miyajima island and yeah all of the mountains surrounding Hiroshima are all caped in this low cloud and it is so so beautiful. We saw it from the train and once we get out on the water we'll show you again it's just stunning. Welcome to Miyajima island which is actually a sacred site it was actually a Shinto god. Until the 14th century this island was completely uninhabited but yeah that's not the case anymore. I mean already on this tour three days in we visited some pretty incredible places but I don't know I think this island for me could be the favorite place so far because it is just gorgeous like the nature is incredible, the buildings, the architecture is just amazing. You honestly feel like you've stepped back in time to imperial Japan. I think this weather couldn't have been any better as well. The atmosphere of it all gorgeous. We just went through the main parts of this island and had a look at everything now we have free time which means food time and I'm back. I was a little bit ill and felt good but couldn't really speak well. Now it's all good. Yesterday I decided to celebrate that and had like three glasses of wine, was dying this morning and now I'm 100% back to life and I'm so ready for this island and Hiroshima in general is very famous for seafood because our guide told us so let's go and have some seafood. How does that sound? I mean if you're asking yeah deal. I am never drinking ever again. Oh my god yeah yeah I'm sure you're not. You can have a beer. I don't Let's try the eel first. Is it good or is it good? The flavor of eel takes time to come through because the sauce then the butter and then the eel it is delicious slightly smoky a little bit sweet sour the butter is so light and fluffy it's a little bit oily but not like overly greasy you know that's just swirl around in your mouth that is delicious that's lovely it's ever so slightly fishy as well right it's not not overly fishy it's almost meaty yes okay so now we're going to try the deep fried oysters we can do it with sauce or not let's do it without sauce first okay that is incredible I'm so excited oh my god that is the opposite to the eel that is incredibly fishy the smell just comes bursting out as soon as you bite into it and the difference in texture between the oyster itself which is obviously I mean a lot of people say it's quite slimy you know it's quite a quite a soft texture and then the crunch of the batter on the outside is so so good the texture of the oyster is still the same yeah it actually is to be honest I mean if it was on its own it would still slide down your throat like a like a raw oyster does but yeah with the batter itself it just gives it a totally different texture it's just incredible now the fried stuff was good but now we're going to go and try raw oysters the only other time we've had raw oysters was on Brighton beach in the UK so I'm expecting them here to be a lot better sorry Brighton what's this? Ginger! I think you guys should try it. Should we put some soy sauce? Oh yeah let's put some lemon in there. That's a diluted soy sauce. It's really spicy right? They're an underwater animal. Do we put the soy sauce? Do you want soy sauce on it? Yeah I do. Cheers! I don't like it though. If you don't like it just swallow it. We'll spit it out. That was a very very controlled expression there. Wow they're so good. They're so fresh and delicious. I haven't tried an oyster like that before. I said well the only other oysters we've tried were on Brighton beach. They're only in Korean stores. We did, we did. So in the UK. It's logical that Japanese oysters should... They're so refreshing and just... Very soft. It's very soft. Such an explosion of flavour in your mouth. But it's not very... It's slightly fishy but it's not like dirty fishy you know? It's melting in my mouth. Try it. I am. I don't know. Yeah? Much much better than Brighton beach. Oh really? That's a surprise. I know. So on the way over on the ferry. We could see in the water a lot of... A lot of oysters being... Harvested? Harvested, that's the word. So yeah I'm guessing... These restaurants get them straight from the water on the edge of the island. And bring them in every day. So fresh. So clean. Beautiful. The taste of the sea. It tastes really clean doesn't it? Yeah it does. Sorry. No no no. It tastes clean that's the thing. I'm really happy to share this experience with you guys. It's all for the camera. It's full of ----. Hold on, hold on. We'll wait for you outside. Arigatou gozaimasu. Change of money. Just 5000. Yes. Thank you. Arigatou gozaimasu. Sayonara. These oysters. That is just my favourite thing in the world now I think. I have a very expensive taste for a cheapskate. I know, I know. As if the trip to the island wasn't worth it anyway. That made it all worth it. Even if there was nothing to see here. Which isn't the case. Those oysters made it absolutely worth it. Amazing. Leaving Miyajima and eventually Hiroshima we were struck by a mix of emotions. To see and hear first hand what happened here was of course difficult but it felt more important than ever to remind ourselves of the destructive capabilities of humanity. In contrast witnessing the vibrant modern city reminded us of the resilience of the local people and their capacity to rebuild their lives from nothing. And lastly, heading with the group to Miyajima Island reminded us that not only is Japan one of the world's most beautiful countries but also has some of the most incredible and tastiest foods. And on that note thanks so much for watching this video and see you in the next one!