One of the reasons to visit Hiroshima is to see and learn about the A-Bomb Dome, one of the few buildings to not be totally destroyed with the nuclear bomb dropped there:

The plaque in this one shows what it looked like before:

It’s a stunning sight both day & night, and the city has done a really good job at preserving it, both as a respectful memorial, and as a tourist attraction:

It’s part of a bigger Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, located on an island that once contained a vibrant neighborhood, but that was instantly leveled by the bomb. The park includes a flame that they’ll burn until all nuclear weapons are eliminated, and an arch memorial to memorialize the 140,000+ killed:

The park is anchored on the other end by the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, probably the best museum I’ve ever been to:

It does a remarkable job of talking about Hiroshima before, during, and after the war, as well as before, during, and after the bomb. I don’t think I’ve ever read so much in a museum. It also tells, and shows, the detailed stories of dozens of specific people and families, the lived, or didn’t, through the bomb. It gets pretty emotional. The narrative is mostly balanced, though it’s clear by its omissions that it’s told from a Japan perspective, not a US one.

The entire city memorializes the bomb, with plaques throughout that detail what happened at that specific spot:

The images & numbers detailed on each never failed to hit hard:

But Hiroshima, and the people that live there, is not an angry place. They just never want to forget. I asked a local about the bomb and how he feels towards the US for dropping it, and he unexpectedly said ‘We don’t blame the US, we blame war. It’s war that needs to stop’. And I guess that seems to align with the overall feeling of the park and the plaques throughout the city, which made me feel a better about the museum’s omissions. Yet another remarkable thing about Hiroshima and it’s history.