About this site

This is a small, independent English-language guide to the Atomic Bomb Dome (Genbaku Dome), Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and the city around them. It is written and maintained by one person, independently.

Why it exists

The aim is simple: to help visitors understand what happened in Hiroshima on 6 August 1945, and to visit the Dome, the park and the museum with care. Most people arrive with a few hours, a lot of questions and little time to find answers in English. How do you get to the park, how long does the museum take, what do the memorials mean, and how should you behave at them. We try to answer those questions plainly and accurately, in one place.

The subject is a memorial to people killed in a nuclear attack. We write about it soberly. We do not describe injuries in detail, we do not dramatise survivors’ testimony, and we take no position on the decision to use the bomb. Where real people appear, such as Sadako Sasaki and the hibakusha, we try to write about who they were and how they are remembered, with dignity.

Who we are not

This is not an official website. It has no connection to the City of Hiroshima, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation, Orizuru Tower, Hiroden or any tourist board. Nobody pays to appear on these pages.

For official information, go to the source: the City of Hiroshima’s peace pages, and the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum’s own website for hours, fees and reservations.

How we check what goes on the site

Every page starts from sources we can name. For history and the memorials, that means the City of Hiroshima, the Peace Memorial Museum and its monument guide, UNESCO’s World Heritage records, and the Radiation Effects Research Foundation. For prices and hours, it means the operator’s own page, read on the date we give. Press reports, such as Jiji Press and the Chugoku Shimbun, are named as press.

Where sources disagree, and on Hiroshima they often do (on distances, on casualty figures, on how many paper cranes Sadako folded), we say which figure we use and why. Where we could not confirm something, we say so instead of guessing.

Fees, opening hours and timetables carry the month we checked them. They change, so we link to the official source and ask you to confirm before you travel.

Tours, hotels and how the site pays for itself

Some pages link to guided tours on GetYourGuide, and some hotel links may earn a commission through Stay22. If you book through one of those links we may earn a small commission; the price you pay is the same. There are no display ads on this site.

On the memorial pages (the history of the Dome, Hiroshima today, Sadako Sasaki, the Children’s Peace Monument, the hibakusha, the Flame of Peace and Cenotaph, and Hiroshima Day) we show no featured tour boxes, only at most two guided walks at the end. The full explanation is on our affiliate disclosure page.

Tell us when we are wrong

Hours change, fares go up, and on a subject like this a mistake matters more than usual. If you find something out of date or wrong, email info@atomicbombdome.com with the page and what you saw. Corrections are welcome, and we would rather hear from you than leave an error standing.