Interesting facts about Hiroshima

hiroshima

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan.

It is situated at the head of Hiroshima Bay, an embayment of the Inland Sea.

As of July 2020, the population of Nagoya is about 2.1 million people.

The city covers a total area of 907 square kilometers (350 square miles).

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Hiroshima, whose name means “broad island,” is situated on the delta of the Ōta River, whose six channels divide it into several islets.

It was founded as a castle town by the feudal lord Mōri Terumoto in the 16th century.

Following the Meiji Restoration in 1868, Hiroshima rapidly transformed into a major urban center and industrial hub.

hiroshima history

In 1889, Hiroshima officially gained city status.

The city was a center of military activities during the imperial era, playing significant roles such as the First Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War, and the two world wars.

On August 6, 1945, during World War II, an American B-29 bomber dropped the world’s first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion wiped out 90 percent of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people – tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure.

hiroshima bomb

Since being rebuilt after the war, Hiroshima has become the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshu, the largest island of Japan.

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park is a memorial park in the center of Hiroshima. It is dedicated to the legacy of Hiroshima as the first city in the world to suffer a nuclear attack, and to the memories of the bomb’s direct and indirect victims (of whom there may have been as many as 140,000). The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park is visited by more than one million people each year. The park is there in memory of the victims of the nuclear attack on August 6, 1945.

hiroshima peace memorial park

The Hiroshima Peace Memorial commonly called the Genbaku Dome, Atomic Bomb Dome or A-Bomb Dome is part of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima. In December 1996, the Genbaku Dome was registered on the UNESCO World Heritage List based on the Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. Its inclusion into the UNESCO list was based on its survival from a destructive force (atomic bomb), the first use of nuclear weapons on a human population, and its representation as a symbol of peace.

hiroshima peace memorial

The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum is a museum located in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, dedicated to documenting the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in World War II. The museum was established in August 1955 with the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Hall. It is the most popular of Hiroshima’s destinations for schoolfield-trips from all over Japan and for international visitors.

hiroshima peace memorial museum

The Children’s Peace Monument is a monument for peace to commemorate Sadako Sasaki and the thousands of child victims of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Sadako Sasaki, was a 12-year-old girl who died, 10 years after the bombing, of leukemia contracted as an aftereffect of exposure to radiation. Millions of paper cranes, the Japanese symbol of longevity and happiness, are heaped about the Children’s Peace Monument throughout the year – that tradition was inspired by Sasaki Sadako.

Children's Peace Monument

Hiroshima Castle, sometimes called Carp Castle, is a castle in Hiroshima, Japan that was the home of the daimyō (feudal lord) of the Hiroshima han (fief). The castle was originally constructed in the 1590s, but was destroyed by the atomic bombing on August 6, 1945. The castle was rebuilt in 1958, a replica of the original that now serves as a museum of Hiroshima’s history before World War II.

hiroshima castle

Shukkei-en is a historic Japanese garden in the city of Hiroshima. Construction began in 1620 during the Edo period at the order of Asano Nagaakira, daimyō of the Hiroshima han. Shukkei-en was constructed by Ueda Sōko, who serve lord Asano as chief retainer (karō) of the domain and as a tea master. Shukkei-en suffered extensive damage, and then became a refuge for victims of the war. After renovations, it reopened in 1951.

shukkei-en

The Yamato Museum is the nickname of the Kure Maritime Museum in Hiroshima. The museum opened on April 23, 2005. It is nicknamed the Yamato Museum due to the display in the lobby of the large model ship, Yamato, a 1/10 scale model of the battleship Yamato, the flagship of the Japanese Combined Fleet in World War II. It was sunk south of the Japanese island of Kyushu in 1945. The museum is located where the battleship was completed.

yamato museum

On May 27, 2016, Barack Obama became the first sitting United States president to visit Hiroshima since the atomic bombing.

Hiroshima is known for okonomiyaki, a savory (umami) pancake cooked on an iron plate, usually in front of the customer.

Festivals in Hiroshima include Hiroshima Flower Festival and Hiroshima International Animation Festival.

Hiroshima has a humid subtropical climate characterized by cool to mild winters and hot humid summers.