Before coming to Japan, most people don't know more than about half-a-dozen place names in the country. But one name certainly familiar to all is that of the largest city at the western end of Honshu.
Sixty years ago last month, on Aug. 6, the atomic bomb "Little Boy" was detonated 580 meters above that city, reducing vast parts of it to char and ash and making Hiroshima instantly known around the world. Ground Zero of the blast was close by Hiroshima's Industrial Promotion Hall, which seconds after the explosion was just about the only structure still standing within a 2-km radius.
For the millions of visitors to Hiroshima every year, the remains of that hall, built in 1914 by a Czech architect, are high on the itinerary, the structure having subsequently been renamed the Atomic Bomb Dome. Left as a poignant reminder of the bomb's awesome power, the shattered dome and frail walls of the building would have fallen apart long ago without expensive reinforcements to hold them together. In 1990, Hiroshima resolved that it would preserve the ruin for all time, and in 1996 the Atomic Bomb Dome became a World Heritage Site.