New parkway conveying pre-A-bombing prosperity completed in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park
Mar. 2, 2024
by Fumiyasu Miyano, Staff Writer
On March 1, a new parkway opened in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Naka Ward. It connects the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum to the Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims. The Hiroshima City government established it along Tenjin-machi-suji street in the former Nakajima district devastated by the atomic bombing. The parkway also leads past the Exhibit Facility for Atomic-Bombed Remnants, which conveys the A-bombing damage of the area and brings visitors back to bygone days.
The parkway is made of asphalt and stretches for about 120 meters. The 66-meter stretch from the north end in front of the memorial hall to the south side where it forks into two, avoiding the A-bombed Aogiri tree, is 5 meters wide and paved in yellow ocher. It is the route Tenjin-machi-suji street ran, and the width of the parkway exactly overlaps with former Tenjin-machi-suji street in the Exhibit Facility for Atomic-Bombed Remnants, located almost halfway along the parkway. The fork in front of the Peace Memorial Museum is finished in a cobblestone style. Construction began in November 2023, and the project cost was 38 million yen.
The former Nakajima district was known as one of Hiroshima’s busiest districts, and Tenjin-machi-suji street was lined with many shops and residences. About 4,400 people are said to have lived in the district, but most were within 500 meters of the hypocenter, where the mortality rate from the A-bombing was close to 100 percent, and the area was completely destroyed.
In March 2022, the city government opened the Exhibit Facility for Atomic-Bombed Remnants, including street asphalt discovered about 60 centimeters below ground and stone materials used for private homes. Visitors can have a close look at these artifacts. When creating the parkway that would be easy to access from the museum and the memorial hall, the city government designed it to remind visitors of Tenjin-machi-suji street. A city official in charge of the A-bomb Experience Preservation within the Peace Promotion Division said, “I want visitors to imagine the daily life lost by a single atomic bomb and to understand the inhumanity of nuclear weapons.”
(Originally published on March 2, 2024)
On March 1, a new parkway opened in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Naka Ward. It connects the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum to the Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims. The Hiroshima City government established it along Tenjin-machi-suji street in the former Nakajima district devastated by the atomic bombing. The parkway also leads past the Exhibit Facility for Atomic-Bombed Remnants, which conveys the A-bombing damage of the area and brings visitors back to bygone days.
The parkway is made of asphalt and stretches for about 120 meters. The 66-meter stretch from the north end in front of the memorial hall to the south side where it forks into two, avoiding the A-bombed Aogiri tree, is 5 meters wide and paved in yellow ocher. It is the route Tenjin-machi-suji street ran, and the width of the parkway exactly overlaps with former Tenjin-machi-suji street in the Exhibit Facility for Atomic-Bombed Remnants, located almost halfway along the parkway. The fork in front of the Peace Memorial Museum is finished in a cobblestone style. Construction began in November 2023, and the project cost was 38 million yen.
The former Nakajima district was known as one of Hiroshima’s busiest districts, and Tenjin-machi-suji street was lined with many shops and residences. About 4,400 people are said to have lived in the district, but most were within 500 meters of the hypocenter, where the mortality rate from the A-bombing was close to 100 percent, and the area was completely destroyed.
In March 2022, the city government opened the Exhibit Facility for Atomic-Bombed Remnants, including street asphalt discovered about 60 centimeters below ground and stone materials used for private homes. Visitors can have a close look at these artifacts. When creating the parkway that would be easy to access from the museum and the memorial hall, the city government designed it to remind visitors of Tenjin-machi-suji street. A city official in charge of the A-bomb Experience Preservation within the Peace Promotion Division said, “I want visitors to imagine the daily life lost by a single atomic bomb and to understand the inhumanity of nuclear weapons.”
(Originally published on March 2, 2024)
