Summer of 2011, I made my first trip to Japan. My arrival was in Kansai. I have always wanted to visit four Japanese cities since my collegiate years: Kyoto, Nara, Nikko, and Hiroshima. On my first trip to Japan, I decided to see Hiroshima first. To date, the city prides two UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Itsukushima Shinto Shrine (popularly known as Miyajima) and the Genbaku Dome (Hiroshima Peace Memorial). This post is about the latter.

6 August 1945 changed Japan and the world - the first atomic bomb was dropped at Hiroshima killing almost 300,000 and continued the suffering of many others in the city. The detonation also marked the end of World War II.

A few meters away from the hypocenter (ground zero in the English-world context) is the Genbuku Dome or the Atomic Bomb Dome, which despite its location avoided a complete destruction. The remains of the building still stand today. Hiroshima decided to keep the ruins as a reminder of the senselessness of war. The memorial was inscribed a World Heritage Site in 1996 with the entire complex its buffer zone, which for the Japanese a symbol of the true value of peace.

At the time of the detonation, the building was the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall. The blast exerted about 35 tons of pressure per square meter and created a fierce wind speed of 440 meters per second. According to visithiroshima.net, “the building absorbed the powerful explosion and heat and burst into flames. Because the impact of the blast came almost directly overhead, curiously the thick outer walls and the steel dome escaped complete destruction.” Nonetheless, the impact and radiation from Little Boy (the atomic bomb) killed instantaneously the people inside the building. The hall’s interior was completely gutted.

The inscription process was controversial. Representatives of State Parties from China and the United States found the nomination unsatisfactory. China, for instance, cited that the monument could be used to downplay the aggressive role of Japan during World War II. The United States, on the other hand, was convinced that having a memorial to a war site might throw away the necessary historical contexts of the Pacific War/World War II. In the end, the United States dissociated itself from the election process.

Today, Hiroshima remains a reminder that war and absurdity are ontologically linked. With the inscription of The Hiroshima Peace Memorial (Genbaku Dome) as a WHS, Hiroshima has become synonymous with peace.

For a longer commentary on the Genbaku Dome, click here.