Hiroshima

Revisiting Hiroshima after nine years, I found the memorial park packed with tourists. Overall, the city didn’t look very photogenic, as most of the new tall buildings looked more or less the same. The next morning, I went to a Showa-era coffee shop and accidentally ended up in Nagarekawa, the local red-light district. This part of the city immediately captivated me with its gritty streets and old houses. The deeper you go, the girl-bars gradually give way to massage parlours, which eventually transition into soaplands. A few drunk folks were still stumbling out of bars early in the morning, adding to the surreal atmosphere.