History
On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped the first nuclear weapon used in warfare on Hiroshima. Widely cited estimates put the number of deaths by the end of that year, from the blast itself and from subsequent radiation effects, at roughly 140,000 people, in a city whose prewar population was around 350,000. It remains, alongside the bombing of Nagasaki three days later, the only use of nuclear weapons in an armed conflict in history.
Hiroshima and the wider world
What Hiroshima built afterward became, deliberately, an international story in its own right. The Peace Memorial Park was constructed around the hypocenter area starting in the 1950s, incorporating the skeletal ruins of one of the only structures left standing nearby — now preserved as the Atomic Bomb Dome and inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site specifically as a monument against nuclear weapons. Hiroshima’s mayors have since become leading voices in international disarmament advocacy, including through Mayors for Peace, an organization the city founded that now includes thousands of member cities worldwide. In a notable, and notably reconciliatory, gesture, Hiroshima maintains a sister-city relationship with Honolulu, Hawaii — home to Pearl Harbor. That international attention reached a visible peak in May 2023, when Hiroshima hosted the G7 Summit, and the leaders of the United States, United Kingdom, France, and other member nations visited the Peace Memorial Park together, an event widely covered around the world.
Neighbors: Hiroshima and Okayama
Hiroshima and Okayama are Chugoku’s two largest cities, sharing the Seto Inland Sea-facing San’yo side of the region and a mild, long-standing rivalry over which city better represents it.
Getting there and getting around
Hiroshima Station is a Sanyo Shinkansen stop, about 4 hours from Tokyo and under an hour from Okayama. Miyajima is reached by a short JR ferry from Miyajimaguchi Station, a 25-minute train ride from central Hiroshima.
