On our second day in Hiroshima we visited the Peace Memorial Park and this museum that focused on the victims. Here are several important points: Japan accepts responsibility for beginning the war; Japan does not condemn the United States for dropping the bomb; Japan is committed to stopping the use of nuclear weapons above all. Although the victims are remembered, the testimonies of the survivors are incredible and invaluable. As in many disasters, the survivors sense a guilt for having survived while family and friends perished. Last but not least, attention is given to the non-Japanese who perished including American prisoners of war, foreign students from China and Malaya, and religious missionaries.

Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims is free and just as its name states. The Hall of Remembrance contains 140,000 tiles representing the number of people who died.Three is a 360degree panorama as seen from the Shima Hospital, the hypocenter of the bombing. In the center is a fountain asa clock at 8:15 am —the time the bomb dropped. From March 1, 2024 to February 28, 2025 there is a special video exhibit about the 4000 Akatsuki Corps; very very interesting and captivating.

This is one of the memorials in Hiroshima that is easily missed when you are visiting the area. The remembrance hall is not to be confused with the Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Museum, the modern multi-storey building at the end of the Pond of Peace. The Memorial Hall is in the gardens to the side of the Pond of Peace. At ground level there is a curved marble wall with a small, grassed courtyard and pond behind it - the centre of which is a raised glass skylight. The entrance itself is set down below ground level and you can either take a glass elevator or the stairs to get to the atrium entrance. The Memorial Hall is free to visit and is open between 8:30am and 6:00pm. Because it is not as well-known it is not as busy or noisy as the Peace Museum. I found it was more moving because of the silence and lack of people - more time to reflect. The Memorial Hall is all about quietly remembering the thousands of people who died that day. Walking down the gently sloping ramp to the circular memorial hall gave me time to reflect. The walls on the large circular hall provide a 360-degree panorama of the cityscape after the atomic bombing and the monument in the centre represents the time of the atomic bombing, 8:15 am. It is such a simple and stark reminder. Going back up there is large monitor screen in the portrait corner, which displays the names and images of all of the victims. The Memorial Hall also has a testimonial reading room, which houses more than 140,000 A-bomb testimonials and memorials from the victims and their families. They also have a special exhibition room, which displays experiences of the atomic bomb based on specific themes (which when we visited was about the Akatsuki Corps, children that were recruited and trained to be suicide boat captains, who after the atomic bomb explosion were redeployed in the rescue and recovery mission. I would thoroughly recommend visiting here after going to Peace Museum as it provides you with a tranquil space to contemplate the enormity of the impact that the detonation of the atomic bomb had on the people of Hiroshima.