＃1 KIRO Hiroshima -THE SHARE HOTELS-

“KIRO Hiroshima -THE SHARE HOTELS-“ was opened in September 2019.
It is located in the center of Hiroshima City, and is about a 9-minute-walk from the A-bomb dome and Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, and only a 3-minute-walk from Okonomimura.

The building used to be an orthopedic hospital with a pool for rehabilitation, but it was renovated drastically for this hotel.
For example, there was an indoor pool in this space with a dome-shaped window, but now……

The space is used as a bar/lounge like an atrium, but the curved windows and texture of concrete tiles beside the pool remain as they were.
This is a place where guests have breakfast, and events are held here as a base for regional exchange.

There is a pop-up shop where you can buy souvenirs related to Setouchi and a drink stand called “cicane -liquid stand-” in the lobby on the ground floor.
People who are not staying at this hotel can come visit both of these shops.

There are 49 rooms total and 11 different types of room – from rooms for only one person to the maximum capacity of 6 people.
Rooms with a loft are also available, and those are popular among group tourists and families.

“KIRO” means “crossroads” in Japanese, and “a hotel which can be a crossroads for Setouchi locals” is the concept of this hotel.
And now, KIRO Hiroshima is suggesting new journeys from the center of Hiroshima City.
This hotel will be unmissable as a new base of Setouchi travel.

＃2 EN HIROSHIMA

The next one is a guesthouse, “EN HIROSHIMA.”
You can reach it by a 3-minute-walk from JR Yokogawa Station, which is two stops from JR Hiroshima Station.
Floors, beds, walls…, everything in this guesthouse is all handmade.

Various rooms are available – a mixed dormitory, a female dormitory, and private rooms done in the Japanese style.

The guests can get a welcome drink each night at the bar on the ground floor.
Many locals also visit this bar, so this place has become a place for international cultural exchange.
Every night, people from across borders and many generations deepen their communications.

The staff working for the guesthouse are from the U.S., Taiwan, and Japan…, very international!
Therefore, this guesthouse is like a “tourist information center where you can drink and stay overnight”!
This should be a good place for you to make new connections halfway through your journey.

#3 36Hostel (saru hostel)

The last accommodation we introduce is “36Hostel (saru hostel).”
It is about 2 minutes on foot from the “Tokaichimachi Station” on the tram, and it is also only about 10 minutes from Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and the A-bomb dome.
What a good location for sightseeing in Hiroshima!

The most characteristic feature of this hostel is that there are a lot of books.
Collections of photographs, books about art, foreign books on design and architecture…
The owners of this hostel are a couple of book lovers and have been collecting various kinds of books over the years.
Guests can pick one from the shelf and read it freely there.

“36Coffee&Books” next door is a book café which was opened by the same owners before they started to run the hostel.
Mr. and Mrs. Hirokane, the owners of these 2 places, love traveling, and were thinking that they wanted to have their own guesthouse someday.
This café is open for only 2 hours in the morning, between 8:30 and 10:30 (closed on Mondays), and you can have special croissant sandwiches, drip coffee or café latte, as well as some espresso drinks.

There are 3 types of rooms in this hostel: a mixed dormitory, a female dormitory, and private rooms with a double bed.
Why don’t you make a good memory of your journey here?

Photographs and text by Akiko Isonaga