JAPAN

by Megumi Yamada, Curatorial Division of Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum

The world’s first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima at 8:15 on the morning of August 6, 1945. The bomb reduced the city to rubble and took scores of lives. The survivors of the bombing were severely traumatized, both physically and mentally, and many still suffer from the aftereffects today.

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum opened on August 24, 1955 to convey the devastation wreaked by the atomic bomb and to appeal for the abolition of nuclear weapons and lasting peace. In these nearly 53 years, the museum has received many visitors from Japan and abroad, including a large number of students on school excursions. During fiscal 2006, approximately 1.24 million people visited the museum.

The museum consists of two buildings: the East Building and the Main Building. The East Building presents the history of Hiroshima before the atomic bombing, the background leading up to the bombing, the post-war reconstruction, and the current state of nuclear weapons in the world. Special exhibitions are also held twice a year.

The exhibits of the Main Building include the personal belongings of the victims, such as clothes tattered by the heat rays and blast of the bomb, photographs and film taken in the aftermath, and a variety of other artifacts. These items eloquently evoke the reality of what actually happened on that day in Hiroshima.

The museum also provides opportunities for school children to listen to the personal accounts of A-bomb survivors, screens documentary films pertaining to the bombing, and lends materials for peace education activities.

We hope people from around the globe will visit Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and that the museum will serve as a place for visitors to reflect on the steps they themselves might take to advance nuclear disarmament and peace in the world.

Address: 1-2 Nakajima-cho, Naka-ku, Hiroshima
Tel: +81-82-241-4004
Homepage:　http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/top_e.html
Days closed: Dec.29-Jan. 1
Admission: Adults (College students and up) ¥50
                 Elementary,junior and senior high school students ¥30

(Originally published on January 21, 2008)