Nihon Hidankyo awarded Nobel Peace Prize: Peace Memorial Museum welcomes monthly record-high 270,000 visitors in October, fueled in part by Hidankyo’s award
Nov. 13, 2024
by Keiichi Nobira, Staff Writer
On November 12, it was learned that the number of visitors to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, located in the city’s Naka Ward, had reached 271,923 in October, a new record-high for monthly visitors. At this pace, for the first time, the yearly visitor number is likely to exceed two million people. The Hiroshima City government considers that the decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize to the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo) served to boost visitor numbers, added to the continued effects of the summit meeting of the G7 (Group of Seven industrialized nations), held in Hiroshima last May, and a weak Japanese yen.
According to the city government, the number of visitors to the museum in October, at 271,923 people, represented a 14.3 percent increase over the number from the same month in fiscal 2023, including 92,438 guests from overseas, a 29.0 percent year-over-year increase. In terms of daily numbers, visitors topped 10,000 people on a total of 11 days during the period from April to October, of which four days were concentrated in the period after October 11, the date the Nobel Peace Prize award was announced.
After the museum first opened in 1955, the monthly visitor number hit a record high of 241,864 in May 2019, the month after the museum’s Main Building reopened following renovations. Moreover, the yearly number reached a record high of 1,981,782 visitors in fiscal 2023. That record was attained due to several factors, including increased interest in the museum after the holding of the G7 Summit, as well as an increase in numbers of inbound tourist to Japan fueled by a weaker yen. In fiscal 2024, as of the end of October, a total of 1,459,988 people visited the museum, a 14.9 percent increase over the number from the same period in fiscal 2023.
Ahead of the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony, scheduled for December 10, an employee at the city’s Peace Promotion Division said, “It is anticipated that the award ceremony will serve to draw even more visitors to the museum. With that, we will continue to work on measures to ease congestion.”
(Originally published on November 13, 2024)
On November 12, it was learned that the number of visitors to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, located in the city’s Naka Ward, had reached 271,923 in October, a new record-high for monthly visitors. At this pace, for the first time, the yearly visitor number is likely to exceed two million people. The Hiroshima City government considers that the decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize to the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo) served to boost visitor numbers, added to the continued effects of the summit meeting of the G7 (Group of Seven industrialized nations), held in Hiroshima last May, and a weak Japanese yen.
According to the city government, the number of visitors to the museum in October, at 271,923 people, represented a 14.3 percent increase over the number from the same month in fiscal 2023, including 92,438 guests from overseas, a 29.0 percent year-over-year increase. In terms of daily numbers, visitors topped 10,000 people on a total of 11 days during the period from April to October, of which four days were concentrated in the period after October 11, the date the Nobel Peace Prize award was announced.
After the museum first opened in 1955, the monthly visitor number hit a record high of 241,864 in May 2019, the month after the museum’s Main Building reopened following renovations. Moreover, the yearly number reached a record high of 1,981,782 visitors in fiscal 2023. That record was attained due to several factors, including increased interest in the museum after the holding of the G7 Summit, as well as an increase in numbers of inbound tourist to Japan fueled by a weaker yen. In fiscal 2024, as of the end of October, a total of 1,459,988 people visited the museum, a 14.9 percent increase over the number from the same period in fiscal 2023.
Ahead of the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony, scheduled for December 10, an employee at the city’s Peace Promotion Division said, “It is anticipated that the award ceremony will serve to draw even more visitors to the museum. With that, we will continue to work on measures to ease congestion.”
(Originally published on November 13, 2024)
