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Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum marks largest number of international visitors in fiscal 2014

by Hajime Kikumoto, Staff Writer

The overall number of visitors to Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum in fiscal 2014 was 1,314,091, a drop of 5 percent from the previous year. The decreasing number of visitors can apparently be attributed to the closing of the museum’s east building since September 2014 as a result of construction work for a full-scale renovation. This was the first drop in annual visitors in three years. At the same time, 234,360 international visitors toured the museum, exceeding the record-high number in fiscal 2013 by 17.1 percent. The Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation reported these figures on April 22.

In fiscal 2011, the number of visitors to the museum dropped due to a dramatic decline in international visitors after the Great East Japan Earthquake and accident at the Fukushima No. 1 (Daiichi) nuclear power plant. But this number recovered to 1,383,129 in fiscal 2013. The museum office believes that some tourists are less inclined to visit the museum after the closure of the east building, although the museum is displaying an additional eight panels in the main building, which summarize the items of the permanent exhibit in the east wing, such as prewar conditions in Hiroshima and the state of nuclear weapons in the world today.

The renovation work in the east building will continue until the end of fiscal 2015. The museum’s main building will then be closed in fiscal 2016 and 2017 for seismic reinforcements. The full reopening of the museum is expected to take place in the spring of 2018. Consequently, starting in mid-July, a part of the museum’s collection will be displayed at the former building of the Hiroshima branch of the Bank of Japan, which survived the atomic bombing, located in Naka Ward. Kenji Shiga, the director of the museum, held a press conference at the Hiroshima City Office and shared his hopes for this exhibition, saying, “We want to make up for the reduced display space at the museum.”

Meanwhile, the number of international visitors has been growing for three consecutive years. This surge seems tied to the increase in international visitors to Japan as well as favorable word of mouth on a popular travel website, which ranks the museum high on its list of popular travel destinations in Japan. Meanwhile, the number of groups visiting the museum, such as school field trips, was 4,270, lower by 120 groups compared to fiscal 2013. Accordingly, the number of school-age children visiting the museum, from elementary school through high school, was down by 8,805 to 306,695.

The number of visitors to the Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims, which is also located within Peace Memorial Park, reached 252,599 in fiscal 2014. This is a rise of 17.7 percent compared to fiscal 2013 and marks a record-high figure. The names and photos of A-bomb victims, being collected by the hall, totaled 20,020 as of the end of March 2015.

(Originally published on April 23, 2015)

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