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| Above, the Atomic Bomb Dome. Photo by Armand Vaquer. |
The city of Hiroshima, and the Peace Memorial Park and Museum in particular, are big draws for foreign tourists.
The Peace Memorial Park and Museum hit a record high in foreign visitors in 2013.
According to Inside Japan Tours:
The Japanese city of Hiroshima may have been devastated by the atomic bomb almost 70 years ago, but today, this site of the destruction is one of the top tourist destinations in the entire country.I visited Hiroshima in 2004 and I would recommend a visit to anyone who studies World War II history. Nearby, visitors can take a ferry to Miyajima to see the famous "floating" torii gate and the Itsukushima Shrine.
Statistics released by the nation's tourist agency revealed that around 363,000 visitors went to the metropolis during 2012, with US citizens making up the vast majority of that figure, followed by Australians and the Chinese.
And the number appears to be climbing, according to the Japan Times. Local officials confirm that the memorial site is attracting more tourists keen to explore the burnt wreckage, which is all that remains of the city's buildings at Ground Zero.
They are also fascinated by the painful witness testimonies and human shadows left permanently visible upon the walls of the constructs where people were instantly obliterated by the blast.
Officials claim promotion activities from the local authorities and tourism attractions have helped to inspire a greater number of foreign tourists to come to the site.
Visitor figures to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum by foreign tourists hit a record high of 200,086 in 2013, with foreign tourists describing the site as a gripping, educational and emotional example of "dark tourism," "grief tourism" or "battlefield tourism".
Along with the a-bombing of Nagasaki and the Lucky Dragon No. 5 incident, Hiroshima was also an inspiration for the Godzilla character. So it is a place where kaiju fans will want to visit.
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