Visitors to Fukuromachi Elementary School Peace Museum reach 500,000
Oct. 23, 2022
by Yukina Maeda, Staff Writer
On October 22, the total number of visitors to the Fukuromachi Elementary School Peace Museum, located in the city’s centrally located Naka Ward, reached 500,000 people. The museum preserves and exhibits messages that A-bomb survivors inscribed on a wall of the school building after the atomic bombing, among other items.
After renovating part of the west wing of the Fukuromachi National School, located about 460 meters from the hypocenter, the Hiroshima City government opened the museum in April 2002. The school museum building is constructed of reinforced concrete, with one basement floor and two aboveground floors. Part of the wall on which A-bomb survivors inscribed messages related to the well-being of family members or friends is displayed there. Doors and windows from the school damaged by the A-bomb blast are also on display.
The museum’s 500,000th visitor was Ryota Sugawara, 27, a high school instructor from Gotsu City, in neighboring Shimane Prefecture. On that day, Mr. Sugawara was presented with a copper origami folded crane as a commemorative gift by Koji Fujibayashi, 70, a volunteer at the museum. “I was so impressed to learn for the first time that A-bomb survivors wrote notes after the atomic bombing with information about members of their family,” remarked Mr. Sugawara.
(Originally published on October 23, 2022)
On October 22, the total number of visitors to the Fukuromachi Elementary School Peace Museum, located in the city’s centrally located Naka Ward, reached 500,000 people. The museum preserves and exhibits messages that A-bomb survivors inscribed on a wall of the school building after the atomic bombing, among other items.
After renovating part of the west wing of the Fukuromachi National School, located about 460 meters from the hypocenter, the Hiroshima City government opened the museum in April 2002. The school museum building is constructed of reinforced concrete, with one basement floor and two aboveground floors. Part of the wall on which A-bomb survivors inscribed messages related to the well-being of family members or friends is displayed there. Doors and windows from the school damaged by the A-bomb blast are also on display.
The museum’s 500,000th visitor was Ryota Sugawara, 27, a high school instructor from Gotsu City, in neighboring Shimane Prefecture. On that day, Mr. Sugawara was presented with a copper origami folded crane as a commemorative gift by Koji Fujibayashi, 70, a volunteer at the museum. “I was so impressed to learn for the first time that A-bomb survivors wrote notes after the atomic bombing with information about members of their family,” remarked Mr. Sugawara.
(Originally published on October 23, 2022)
