Features

by Michio Shimotaka, Staff Writer

On August 1, 2002, the Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims in Peace Memorial Park, located in the city’s Naka Ward, opened its doors for the first time. The reinforced-concrete building, with one floor on the upper level and two floors on the lower level, was designed by the architectural firm of Kenzo Tange, who was also the creator of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. With its open, the Memorial Hall began work involving registration of the names and memorial photographs of atomic bomb victims upon receiving applications from bereaved family members and, along with the personal accounts of experiences in the atomic bombing collected under the same criteria, stored and made the information available to the public.

According to an inscription at the entrance to the facilities, the aim of the Memorial Hall is, “Mourning the lives lost in the atomic bombing, we pledge to convey the truth of this tragedy throughout Japan and the world, pass it on to the future, learn the lessons of history, and build a peaceful world free from nuclear weapons.” On the second floor of the lower level is “the Hall of Remembrance,” in which is revealed depiction with tiles of the city devastated by the atomic bombing. The image is constructed of approximately 140,000 such tiles, corresponding to the estimated number of those who had died by the end of 1945.

Japan’s national government, which had been reluctant to provide compensation for the bereaved family members of A-bomb victims, such as the offering of condolence money, considered the construction of the Memorial Hall “as a way to express condolence without affecting the issue of maintaining balance with the other war victims,” according to a response made by Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu to a question about the issue raised in Japan’s parliamentary Diet in May 1990. The establishment of the Memorial Hall was stipulated in the Atomic Bomb Survivors Relief Law, which was enacted in 1994 and came into force in 1995.

Controversy over explanatory phrasing

Later, as the plan took shape, controversy arose over the explanatory text to be displayed on the wall alongside a ramp leading to the Hall of Remembrance. In July 2001, quoting a passage from Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama’s 1995 statement marking the 50th anniversary of the end of the war, Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare prepared a draft stating that Japan had “pursued a mistaken national policy that led to war.” However, after an expert planning committee for establishment of the Memorial Hall submitted its opinion that the language was too “subjective,” the wording was revised to “Japan took an unfortunate path that led to war.”

In response, seven A-bomb survivor groups based in Hiroshima, including the two Hiroshima Prefectural Confederations of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Hiroshima Hidankyo), opposed the revision. Based on the grounds that it was essential for Japan to reflect on its wartime history to prevent a recurrence of such a tragedy, they submitted a statement to the national government reading, “the phrase ‘a mistaken policy’ is indispensable. The revision is unacceptable.”

Shiro Kondo, head of the Hiroshima Alliance of A-bomb Survivor Organizations, made a particularly strong appeal as the coordinator of the seven groups. “The emotion of mourning the dead is the starting point of the peace movement,” he said, as reported in the Chugoku Shimbun on June 28, 2000. Mr. Kondo had lost his older brother, a student mobilized for the war effort, in the atomic bombing.

The national government ultimately adopted the wording “recall with great sorrow the many lives sacrificed to a mistaken national policy.” Mr. Kondo praised the decision, saying, “It is highly significant to leave a written record that the national policy was mistaken and to make a pledge for peace.” However, without ever being able to visit the facility, Mr. Kondo died on August 21, 2002, at the age of 69, shortly after the hall had opened.

Writing testimonies in face of fading memories

Inside the hall have been installed a large monitor displaying memorial photos of A-bomb victims based on the consent from bereaved family members for release to the public as well as electronic search terminals. More than 80,000 personal accounts of the atomic bombing, submitted in response to the government’s call for contributions in conjunction with a 1995 fact-finding survey involving A-bomb survivors, have been made public. More recent calls for additional submissions have also been issued.

Mitsuaki Tamagawa, 95, a resident of Hiroshima’s Minami Ward who experienced the atomic bomb when he was a third-year student at the former Shudo Junior High School, wrote and submitted his own personal account in 2002. Encouraged by a friend, he wrote about his experiences in the atomic bombing at the former Hiroshima Army Ordnance Supply Depot (in Hiroshima’s present-day Minami Ward) where he had been mobilized, as well as about his memories of children from his neighborhood around his same age who had died in the atomic bombing. His account spans 34 A4-sized pages.

Until that time, Mr. Tamagawa had never spoken about his experiences in the atomic bombing, but with the realization that his memories of that time were fading, he put pen to paper. He wrote in his account that, “The number of people who experienced the atomic bombing now alive is extremely limited. That number is decreasing year by year and, with it, memories are being forgotten ... Countries around the world continue their active development of nuclear weapons, with even threats of nuclear war being raised.”

As of May 20, 2025, the Memorial Hall had registered the names and memorial photos of 28,506 victims and stored 150,937 personal accounts of A-bombing experiences. Nagasaki City’s Memorial Hall opened in 2003.

(Originally published on May 22, 2025)