Number of visitors to Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum expected to surpass 1.8 million for first time in fiscal 2023, largest number ever
Jan. 1, 2024
Effects of Hiroshima Summit and weak yen provide tail wind
by Keiichi Nohira, Staff Writer
On December 31, 2023, it was learned the annual number of visitors to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum in the city’s Naka Ward in fiscal 2023 was expected to surpass 1.8 million for the first time, exceeding the number of visitors in fiscal 2019, the largest number to date. The Hiroshima City government says the biggest factor is heightened interest in the A-bombed city following the summit meeting of the G7 (G7 summit, attended by the Group of Seven industrialized nations) held in Hiroshima in May. In the spring of 2024, the city government will begin online reservations and sales of admission tickets to the museum to improve preparations to receive visitors.
According to the Hiroshima City government, the number of visitors to the museum in fiscal 2023 stands at 1,602,146 as of December 28, 2023 (preliminary figures). This number is approaching that recorded in fiscal 2019 at the same time, a fiscal year that eventually recorded 1,758,746 visitors.
In fiscal 2019, the museum temporarily closed on and after February 29 (2020) due to the coronavirus pandemic, receiving only 147,353 visitors across those two months (January to February) in 2020. Given that prior to the pandemic, records show 250,000 people visited the museum during the period between January and March in fiscal 2018, the city government is convinced the number of annual visitors in fiscal 2023 will surpass 1,800,000.
The breakdown of visitors to the museum in fiscal 2023 shows a significant increase in non-Japanese visitors. There were 538,669 non-Japanese visitors to the museum as of December 28, 2023, already exceeding the 522,781 non-Japanese visitors in fiscal 2019, the largest-ever number of non-Japanese visitors to visit the museum. The city government thinks the relaxation of Japan’s border measures due to the coronavirus pandemic, the depreciation of the yen, and the effects of the Hiroshima Summit, provided a tail wind.
While the museum has a good number of visitors, chronic congestion has become an issue. After the summit, some visitors needed to wait for up to two hours to enter, forming long lines outside the museum. As early as the middle of February in 2024, the Hiroshima City government will begin online reservations and sales of tickets for visitors in and beyond March. The Hiroshima City government plans to advance the opening time of the museum by an hour and delay the closing time for an hour to use the two hours as online reservation frames. It is also considering installing a ticket machine.
The city’s Peace Promotion Division said, “We believe a growing number of people have become interested in peace because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Israeli military’s invasion of Gaza in the Palestinian autonomous region. We’d like to promote measures against congestion, so many people can learn about the reality of the atomic bombing.”
(Originally published on January 1, 2024)
