Peace Memorial Museum rotates 60 items in permanent exhibitions—School uniforms, personal journal give sense of atomic bombing on that day
Feb. 18, 2023
by Kana Kobayashi, Staff Writer
The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, in the city’s centrally located Naka Ward, has changed a portion of the items displayed in its Main Building’s permanent exhibitions, revealing them to the public on February 17. That marked the third rotation of exhibit contents since the museum’s major renovations in 2019. The aim of rotation of the exhibited items is to introduce to the public as many atomic bombing-related artifacts as possible to fully communicate the suffering of each of the victims and the memories of that fateful day, August 6, 1945, to future generations.
Due to the rotation work, which resulted in 60 of the roughly 500 items exhibited in the Main Building being updated, the museum was closed during the period February 14–16. The newly displayed items include a school uniform stuck to the skin of the wearer from the atomic bombing that had to be removed with scissors, a student’s journal with the final log dated August 5, and a fundoshi loincloth that bears the markings of exposure to the black rain that fell immediately after the atomic bombing. Such items convey to the present day the cruelty of the bombing, which took the lives of so many including children, and the cries of grief from the bereaved families.
The museum generally rotates its exhibits once a year in an attempt to prevent deterioration of the exhibited items. The recent rotation included “A-bomb drawings” illustrated by A-bomb survivors, with six new images depicting the devastation of Miyuki Bridge and its surrounding area also put on display.
Joe Tay, 42, a university lecturer visiting Hiroshima from Singapore on a family trip, remarked how he had been particularly moved by the exhibit of children’s belongings. He expressed his hope of sharing his experience with friends and family and of encouraging them to visit the museum.
(Originally published on February 18, 2023)
The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, in the city’s centrally located Naka Ward, has changed a portion of the items displayed in its Main Building’s permanent exhibitions, revealing them to the public on February 17. That marked the third rotation of exhibit contents since the museum’s major renovations in 2019. The aim of rotation of the exhibited items is to introduce to the public as many atomic bombing-related artifacts as possible to fully communicate the suffering of each of the victims and the memories of that fateful day, August 6, 1945, to future generations.
Due to the rotation work, which resulted in 60 of the roughly 500 items exhibited in the Main Building being updated, the museum was closed during the period February 14–16. The newly displayed items include a school uniform stuck to the skin of the wearer from the atomic bombing that had to be removed with scissors, a student’s journal with the final log dated August 5, and a fundoshi loincloth that bears the markings of exposure to the black rain that fell immediately after the atomic bombing. Such items convey to the present day the cruelty of the bombing, which took the lives of so many including children, and the cries of grief from the bereaved families.
The museum generally rotates its exhibits once a year in an attempt to prevent deterioration of the exhibited items. The recent rotation included “A-bomb drawings” illustrated by A-bomb survivors, with six new images depicting the devastation of Miyuki Bridge and its surrounding area also put on display.
Joe Tay, 42, a university lecturer visiting Hiroshima from Singapore on a family trip, remarked how he had been particularly moved by the exhibit of children’s belongings. He expressed his hope of sharing his experience with friends and family and of encouraging them to visit the museum.
(Originally published on February 18, 2023)
