4 Best Sights in Western Honshu, Japan

This ruin is a poignant symbol of man's self-destructiveness. It was the city's old Industrial Promotion Hall, and it stands in stark contrast to the new Hiroshima, which hums along close by. Despite being directly below the bomb blast, the building did not collapse into rubble like the rest of the city. Eerie, twisted, and charred, the iron-and-concrete dome has stood darkly brooding next to the river, basically untouched since that horrible morning. The sad old building's foreboding, derelict appearance can be emotionally overwhelming. The site is just outside the official northeast boundary of Peace Memorial Park. Take Tram 2 or 6 from Hiroshima Station to the Gembaku-Domu-mae stop.

Many consider this the most profound memorial in Peace Memorial Park. The figure is of Sadako, a 10-year-old girl who developed leukemia as a result of exposure to the atomic radiation that lingered long after the blast. She believed that if she could fold 1,000 paper senbazuru (cranes)—a Japanese symbol of good fortune and longevity—her illness would be cured. Her story has become a folktale of sorts, and it inspired a nationwide paper crane–folding effort among schoolchildren that continues to this day. The colorful chains of paper cranes—delivered daily from schools all over the world—are visually and emotionally striking.

Behind the Memorial Cenotaph, this flame will be extinguished only when all atomic weapons are banished. In the meantime, every August 6, the citizens of Hiroshima float paper lanterns down the city's rivers for the repose of the souls of the atomic-bomb victims.

Designed by Japanese architect Kenzo Tange, the cenotaph resembles the primitive A-frame houses of Japan's earliest inhabitants. Buried inside is a chest containing the names of those who died in the destruction and aftermath of the atomic bomb. On the exterior is the inscription, "Rest in peace, for the error shall not be repeated." Looking through the Cenotaph at the Flame of Peace at night, after the sun has set and crowds have gone home, is an eerily beautiful experience. The cenotaph stands before the north side of the Heiwa Kinen Shiryokan.