Hiroshima

Infobox City Japan
Name = Hiroshima
JapaneseName = 広島市
Region = Chūgoku, Sanyō
Prefecture = Hiroshima
Area_km2 = 905.01
Population = 1,159,391
Density_km2 = 1281.1
PopDate = January 2007
Mayor = Tadatoshi Akiba
Coords =
LatitudeDegrees = 34
LatitudeMinutes = 23
LatitudeSeconds =
LongtitudeDegrees = 132
LongtitudeMinutes = 27
LongtitudeSeconds =
Tree =

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CityHallPostalCode = 730-8586
CityHallAddress = Hiroshima-shi, Naka-ku, Kokutaiji 1-6-34
CityHallPhone = 082-245-2111
CityHallLink = [http://www.city.hiroshima.jp/ Hiroshima City]
Map

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The Japanese city of nihongo|Hiroshima|広島市|"Hiroshima-shi" (Audio|ja-Hiroshima.ogg|listen) is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshū, the largest of Japan's islands. It is known throughout the world as the first city in history subjected to nuclear warfare when it was bombed by the United States of America during World War II. [cite book | last = Hakim | first = Joy | title = A History of Us: War, Peace and all that Jazz | publisher = Oxford University Press | date = 1995 | location = New York | pages = | isbn = 0-19-509514-6 ]

Hiroshima gained municipality status on April 1, 1889 and was designated on April 1, 1980 by government ordinance. The city's current mayor is Tadatoshi Akiba who assumed the office on February 23, 1999.

History

Hiroshima was founded on the coast of the Seto Inland Sea in 1589 by Mori Terumoto, who made it his capital after leaving Koriyama Castle in Aki Province. [cite web |url=http://www.city.hiroshima.jp/kikaku/joho/toukei/History-E/c01.html |title=The Origin of Hiroshima |publisher=Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation |accessdate=2007-08-17] Hiroshima Castle was quickly built, and Terumoto moved in in 1593. Terumoto was on the losing side at the Battle of Sekigahara. The winner, Tokugawa Ieyasu, deprived Mori Terumoto of most of his fiefs including Hiroshima and gave Aki province to Masanori Fukushima, a daimyo who had supported him.cite book |author=Kosaikai, Yoshiteru |title=Hiroshima Peace Reader |publisher=Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation |date=2007 |chapter=History of Hiroshima] The castle passed to Asano Nagaakira in 1619, and Asano was appointed the daimyo of this area. Under Asano rule, the city prospered, developed, and expanded, with few military conflicts or disturbances. Asano's descendants continued to rule until the Meiji Restoration in the 19th century.

Hiroshima served as the capital of Hiroshima Domain during the Edo period. After the han was abolished in 1871, the city became the capital of Hiroshima prefecture. Hiroshima became a major urban center during the Meiji period as the Japanese economy shifted from primarily rural to urban industries. Ujina Harbor was constructed in the 1880s, allowing Hiroshima to become an important port city. The Sanyo Railroad was extended to Hiroshima in 1894, and a rail line from the main station to the harbor was constructed for military transportation during the First Sino-Japanese War. New industrial plants, including cotton mills, were established in Hiroshima in the late 1800s. [cite book |title=The Origin of Modern Capitalism and Eastern Asia |author=Jacobs, Norman |publisher=Hong Kong University |year=1958 |pages=p. 51] Further industrialization in Hiroshima was stimulated during the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, which required development and production of military supplies. The Hiroshima Prefectural Commercial Exhibition Hall was constructed in 1915 as a center for trade and exhibition of new products. Later, its name was changed to Hiroshima Prefectural Product Exhibition Hall, and again to Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall. [cite book |author=Sanko |title=Hiroshima Peace Memorial (Genbaku Dome) |date=1998 |publisher=The City of Hiroshima and the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation]

Atomic bomb

During World War II, the Second Army and Chugoku Regional Army were headquartered in Hiroshima, and the Army Marine Headquarters was located at Ujina port. The city also had large depots of military supplies, and was a key center for shipping.cite web |url=http://web.archive.org/web/20041011111052/http://www.nuclearfiles.org/redocuments/1946/460619-bombing-survey1.html |title=U. S. Strategic Bombing Survey: The Effects of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki |date=June 1946 |author=United States Strategic Bombing Survey |publisher=nuclearfiles.org]

The bombing of Tokyo and other cities in Japan during World War II caused widespread destruction and over 200,000 deaths, nearly all civilians. For example, Toyama, an urban area of 128,000, was nearly 100% destroyed, and incendiary attacks on Tokyo are credited with claiming 90,000 lives. [cite web | url=http://www.bookmice.net/darkchilde/japan/fire.html |title= Firebombing Japan |publisher= [e-mail] |accessdate= 2008-04-16] There were numerous such air raids in Hiroshima. To protect against potential firebombings in Hiroshima, students were mobilized to demolish houses and create firebreaks. [cite web |url=http://www.chugoku-np.co.jp/abom/97e/peace/e/03/omoide.htm |title=Japan in the Modern Age and Hiroshima as a Military City |publisher=The Chugoku Shimbun |accessdate=2007-08-19]

On Monday [ [http://www.cfo.doe.gov/me70/manhattan/hiroshima.htm The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima] , U.S. Department of Energy, Office of History and Heritage Resources] , August 6, 1945, the nuclear weapon Little Boy was dropped on Hiroshima by the crew of the American B-29 bomber "Enola Gay", directly killing an estimated 80,000 people. By the end of the year, injury and radiation brought total casualties to 90,000-140,000. [ [http://www.rerf.or.jp/general/qa_e/qa1.html Radiation Effects Research Foundation] ] Approximately 69% of the city's buildings were completely destroyed, and 6.6% severely damaged.

Research about the effects of the attack was restricted under Allied occupation, and information censored until the signing of the San Francisco Peace Treaty in 1951, restoring control to the Japanese. [Ishikawa and Swain (1981), p. 5]

After the war

On September 17, 1945, Hiroshima was struck by the Makurazaki Typhoon (Typhoon Ida), one of the largest typhoons of the Shōwa period. Hiroshima prefecture suffered more than 3,000 deaths and injuries, about half the national total. [ [http://excite.co.jp/world/english/web/body/?wb_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bioweather.net%2Fcolumn%2Fweather%2Fcontents%2Fmame068.htm&wb_submit=%83E%83F%83u%83y%81%5B%83W%96%7C%96%F3&wb_lp=JAEN&wb_dis=2 Makurazaki Typhoon] ] More than half the bridges in the city were destroyed, along with heavy damage to roads and railroads, further devastating the city. [Ishikawa and Swain (1981), p. 6]

Hiroshima was rebuilt after the war, with the help from the national government through the Hiroshima Peace Memorial City Construction Law passed in 1949. It provided financial assistance for reconstruction, along with land donated that was previously owned by the national government and used for military purposes. [cite web |url=http://www.city.hiroshima.jp/kikaku/joho/toukei/History-E/c05.html |title=Peace Memorial City, Hiroshima |publisher=Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation |accessdate=2007-08-14] Several U.S. civic leaders and scholars were consulted about the rebuilding plan.Fact|date=August 2007

In 1949, a design was selected for the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall, the closest surviving building to the location of the bomb's detonation, was designated the Genbaku Dome (原爆ドーム) or "Atomic Dome", a part of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum was opened in 1955 in the Peace Park. [cite web |url=http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/virtual/VirtualMuseum_e/exhibit_e/exh0507_e/exh050701_e.html |title=Fifty Years for the Peace Memorial Museum |publisher=Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum |accessdate=2007-08-17]

Hiroshima was proclaimed a City of Peace by the Japanese parliament in 1949, at the initiative of its mayor, Shinzo Hamai (1905–1968). As a result, the city of Hiroshima received more international attention as a desirable location for holding international conferences on peace as well as social issues. As part of that effort, the Hiroshima Interpreters' and Guide's Association (HIGA) was established in 1992 in order to facilitate translation services for conferences, and the Hiroshima Peace Institute was established in 1998 within the Hiroshima University. The city government continues to advocate the abolition of all nuclear weapons and the Mayor of Hiroshima is the President of Mayors for Peace, an international Mayoral organization mobilizing cities and citizens worldwide to abolish and eliminate nuclear weapons by the year 2020 [http://www.2020visioncampaign.org Mayors for Peace 2020 Vision Campaign] . [ [http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/hiroshima.htm Surviving the Atomic Attack on Hiroshima, 1945 ] ] [ [http://www.nuclearfiles.org/menu/library/media-gallery/video/hiroshima-aftermath Nuclear Files: Library: Media Gallery: Video Files: Rare film documents devastation at Hiroshima ] ]

Geography

Hiroshima has eight wards ("ku"):

Within Japan, Hiroshima has a similar relationship with Nagasaki.

ee also

*Barefoot Gen
*Kokura
*Yoshito Matsushige
*Masaharu Morimoto, celebrity chef born and raised in Hiroshima and perhaps the city's most famous former resident by way of the popular show "Iron Chef"
*Sadako Kurihara

Notes

References

*cite book |title=Hiroshima and Nagasaki: The Physical, Medical, and Social Effects of the Atomic Bombings |author=Ishikawa, Eisei, David L. Swain |publisher=Basic Books |year=1981
*cite book |author=Kowner, Rotem |year=2002 |chapter=Hiroshima |editor=M. Ember & C. Ember (eds.) |title=Encyclopedia of Urban Cultures (Vol. II) |pages=pp. 341-348 |publisher=Grolier |isbn=0717256987

Further reading

* Pacific War Research Society, "Japan's Longest Day" (Kodansha, 2002, ISBN 4-7700-2887-3), the internal Japanese account of the surrender and how it was almost thwarted by fanatic soldiers who attempted a coup against the Emperor.
* Richard B. Frank, "Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire" (Penguin, 2001 ISBN 0-14-100146-1)
* Robert Jungk, "Children of the Ashes", 1st Eng. ed. 1961
* Gar Alperovitz, "The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb", ISBN 0-679-76285-X
* John Hersey, "Hiroshima", ISBN 0-679-72103-7
* Michihiko Hachiya, "Hiroshima Diary: The Journal of a Japanese Physician", August 6 - September 30, 1945 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1955), since reprinted.
* Masuji Ibuse, "Black Rain", ISBN 0-87011-364-X
* Hara Tamiki, "Summer Flowers" ISBN 0-691-00837-X

External links

* [http://www.city.hiroshima.jp/e/index-E.html Official website] in English
* [http://www.city.hiroshima.jp/shimin/heiwa/declaration.html Peace Declarations] in English
* [http://www.city.hiroshima.jp/shimin/heiwa/peaceenglish.html Devotion to the Cause of Peace] - The City of Hiroshima projects for male volunteers in the Red Cross Hiroshima Hospital and Kummanoto Hospital, caring for survivors of the atomic bomb
* [http://www.subways.net/japan/hiroshima.htm Hiroshima Hiroden Streetcars]
*wikitravelpar|Hiroshima
* [http://tristan.ferroir.free.fr/Photos/?level=album&id=18 Photo Gallery of Hiroshima]
* [http://www.warbirdforum.com/hirodead.htm How many died at Hiroshima?] , analysis of the conflicting estimates
* [http://www.city.hiroshima.jp/kikaku/joho/toukei/History-E/c04.html Article on planning for the rebuilding of Hiroshima in 1946.]
* [http://www.geocities.com/peterance/hiroshima.htm Peter Rance's 1951 Hiroshima Photographs]
* [http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=34.40,132.46&spn=0.16,0.23&t=k&hl=en Satellite picture by Google Maps]
* [http://citymayors.com/mayors/hiroshima_mayor.html CityMayors article]
* [http://www.nuclearfiles.org/menu/key-issues/nuclear-weapons/history/pre-cold-war/hiroshima-nagasaki/index.htm Nuclear Files.org] Comprehensive information on the history, and political and social implications of the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
* [http://archives.cbc.ca/IDD-1-71-1794/conflict_war/hiroshima/ CBC Digital Archives - Shadows of Hiroshima]