Kamiyacho

Kamiyacho is the geographic and commercial centre of Hiroshima, the district that sits at the crossing of the city's main avenues and forms its principal business and shopping hub. Together with the adjoining Hatchobori and the Hondori arcade, it makes up the downtown core, and its central position - only a short walk from the Peace Memorial Park - means most visitors pass through it at some point. Busy with office workers, shoppers and streams of trams, it is the pulsing middle of the city.

The district is defined by its major intersection, where broad avenues meet and Hiroshima's streetcars converge from every direction. Around it rise department stores, office towers, shopping complexes, hotels and restaurants, giving Kamiyacho a distinctly urban, modern character. One of its signature features lies underground: Shareo, an extensive subterranean shopping mall beneath the intersection, which links the tram stops, department-store basements and surrounding streets with a bright network of shops, cafes and passages. On a hot summer day or in the rain, Shareo offers a cool, dry way to move around and shop at the heart of the city, and it is a hub in its own right.

Kamiyacho connects seamlessly to the rest of downtown. From here the Hondori arcade runs west toward the Peace Park, the department stores of Hatchobori lie just to the east, and the entertainment and dining districts of Nagarekawa and Fukuromachi are a short walk south. This connectivity makes Kamiyacho the natural pivot of a day in central Hiroshima: a place to change trams, dip into a department store, grab a meal and set off again toward the sights. The Astram Line, the city's elevated and underground rapid-transit line, also serves the area, adding to its role as a transport nexus.

Like the rest of central Hiroshima, Kamiyacho carries the weight of the city's history lightly but unmistakably. The whole district was destroyed in the 1945 atomic bombing and rebuilt from nothing; that it is now a thriving, ordinary city centre, minutes from the memorials, is itself a quiet testament to Hiroshima's recovery. Walking its busy streets, it is worth remembering how close you are to the hypocentre and how completely the life around you represents a city rebuilt.

The experience here is urban and practical rather than scenic - flat, easy and centred on shopping, dining and transit. There are no monuments within the district itself; its value is its central location, its underground mall, its department stores and its role as the hub from which the rest of Hiroshima radiates. It is busiest by day and in the early evening, when workers and shoppers fill the streets and the restaurants below ground and above come alive.

Getting there is effortless: Kamiyacho is served by multiple tram lines and the Astram Line, with frequent connections from Hiroshima Station, the Peace Park and the Miyajima-bound routes, and the Peace Memorial Park is only a few minutes' walk to the west. Use Kamiyacho as the convenient, well-linked centre of your Hiroshima wanderings - a place to shop, eat and orient yourself before moving on to the city's memorials and sights.