Atomic Bomb Museum (Genbaku Shiryokan)

Atomic Bomb Museum (Genbaku Shiryokan) Review

The spiral staircase of the Atomic Bomb Museum takes you down into a dark, depressing collection of video loops, dioramas, and exhibits that demonstrate the devastating effects of the bomb that was detonated here. English audio tours are available, though what you see is already too much to handle. The continuous, unblinking film footage is absolutely nauseating at several points, and a melted and blasted wall clock, as surreal as any Dalí painting, sears its way into your conscience. Out in the brightly lighted hallway, across from life-size mock-ups of the two atomic bombs, is a strange exhibit under a caption that reads "Japan's Wartime Aggression in the Pacific," which has a perfunctory list of conflicts, and includes an odd picture of Chinese peasant women training with pistols—though there's no mention of the atrocity that Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine calls "The Nanjing Strategy." To get to the museum, take Streetcar 1 from Nagasaki Station to the Hamaguchi stop.