News

by Yo Kono, Staff Writer

Hiroshima Prefectural Governor Hidehiko Yuzaki officially announced at a press conference on January 16 that three prefecture-owned buildings of the former Army Clothing Depot, located in Hiroshima’s Minami Ward and the largest set of A-bombed buildings in the city, will be preserved, in a change of plans from the original proposal to, as a safety measure, “preserve the exterior of one building and demolish the other two.” Seismic reinforcement of the buildings is scheduled to begin in fiscal 2024.

The policy change was made because the designation of the depot buildings as national important cultural property is now a certainty, which would allow the appropriate financial resources for the seismic reinforcement work to be secured. Governor Yuzaki said, “Preservation of the depot buildings is of great significance for future generations as A-bombed structures and cultural assets that convey to the present day the role played by Hiroshima before the war.”

The governments of Hiroshima Prefecture and Hiroshima City will include the costs of seismic reinforcement of the buildings in their proposed budgets for fiscal 2024. The project costs will be in the mid-2.9 billion yen range, 1.7 times more than the original estimate, due to soaring construction material costs and changes in construction methods. Half of the costs will be covered by a subsidy from Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs, and the remaining half will be split evenly between the prefecture and the city.

Of the three buildings owned by the prefecture, Building No. 1, expected to be utilized as a base for peace education, will be transferred to the city free of charge after the seismic reinforcement work is completed. Japan’s Ministry of Finance, owner of Building No. 4, is planning anti-seismic improvements during fiscal 2024–2026 aimed at preservation and utilization of the structure.

The prefecture’s proposal to “preserve the exterior of one building and demolish the other two,” announced in December 2019, sparked opposition among A-bomb survivors groups. The biggest challenge the prefecture faced in reviewing the plan was securing funding for the seismic reinforcement. A study group that is to be formed by the prefecture with the national government and the city will deliberate on how to utilize the structure.


by Yo Kono, Staff Writer

The formal announcement of the Hiroshima Prefectural government’s decision to preserve the three buildings of the former Army Clothing Depot was made after it reached agreement with the Hiroshima City government on sharing the financial burden and securing support from the national government for the costs associated with the seismic reinforcement work. The prefecture insisted on an equal share of the costs, a proposal to which the city agreed. The focus of the prefecture and the city will now shift to deliberations on how to utilize the buildings.

The reason for announcing the preservation at this time was “the result of a variety of adjustments that needed to be made,” said Hiroshima Governor Hidehiko Yuzaki at the press conference on January 16.

The proposal the prefecture made in December 2019 to “preserve the exterior of one building and demolish the other two,” was opposed by the city government’s leader, among others who objected. Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui revealed at a different press conference held the same month that he had told the prefecture he wanted “every possible effort to be made to preserve all the buildings.”

In the prefectural assembly, there were increasing calls for the city to share the burden. At that time, a major project that involved the construction of a new soccer stadium in the central part of the city was in full swing. When the basic plan for stadium construction was being finalized, the focus fell on how the financially struggling prefectural and city governments would share the cost burden.

In February 2022, the governments reached an agreement that spelled out their equal cost sharing of the financial burden of the stadium construction, as Hiroshima City, the lead in the construction plan, had originally insisted. With regard to the Depot buildings, the same kind of equal sharing of the costs involved became a non-negotiable criterion for the prefecture. The city ultimately agreed.

In addition to the costs for seismic reinforcement, which have risen to 1.7 times more than the original estimate, building maintenance costs will also continue into the future. In the prefectural assembly, there is still strong support among some members for the plan outlining the “preservation of the exterior of one building and demolition of the other two,” and some have called for multiple buildings to be handed over to the city.

Additional funding might be needed for repairs to make the structures usable. Since there is no parking space available on site, attracting visitors will be difficult. How will measures to utilize the buildings materialize? Governor Yuzaki merely said, “We’ll continue discussions over a period of time.”

(Originally published on January 17, 2024)