No Japanese city outside of Tokyo holds as great a significance in global history as Hiroshima. A 15-minute tram ride from JR Hiroshima Station transports you from the lively bustle of the city to the calm of Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. From the tram stop, the first monument you will see is the Atomic Bomb Dome, its skeletal structure appearing gradually from behind the rustling trees that gently break the silence.
On a hot day, the Ota River, beside which the Dome stands, glistens in the sun, and even the rust and dust of the dome shine — a cheerful brightness that echoes the clear summer morning on which the atomic bomb exploded above it at 580 meters on Aug. 6 1945.
In an attack that destroyed approximately 70 percent of the city's buildings, the Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall — named the Atomic Bomb Dome after the war — was the building closest to the hypocenter of the bomb which remained partially standing.