Issues: Museums and Memorials
Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum
Three days after the U.S. dropped the world’s first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, on August 9, 1945, the United States dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki. Nagasaki was not the primary target of the original mission. Kokura was considered the primary target, but because the city was covered by a dense smoke, the primary target was abandoned in favor of the the secondary target, Nagasaki. Of the approximately 240,000 people living in Nagasaki at that time, roughly 74,000 died in the immediate blast. Additionally, close to 80% of city’s buildings were either completely destroyed or badly burned. As in Hiroshima, radiation from the bomb caused many who survived the blast to suffer a number of different disorders that continue to this day. The peace statue that stands in the peace park was erected in 1955 and various memorials, statues, and halls have been added to the peace park since that time.
