Hiroshima

Hiroshima
Japanese name
Kanji	広島市
Transcriptions - Romanization Hiroshima-shi

Hiroshima is an industrial city in Japan and the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture on the south-western tip of Honshū Island.

It is most famous for being the target of the first atomic weapon used in warfare, just prior to the Japanese surrender at the end of World War II. "Little Boy" was dropped on Hiroshima by the United States on August 6, 1945 killing approximately 140,000 people. Three days later, the United States made the point that they were serious, by dropping "Fat Man" on Nagasaki, which was, so far, the last use of these weapons.

Hiroshima's current metropolitan population is estimated at 2,000,000.

Itsukushima Shrine on Miyajima Island, which has one of Japan's most scenic views, is an interesting tourist site. It has a famous fireworks display.

Miyajima Island

See also

• Atomic bomb
• The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb and the Architecture of an American Myth - book giving a dozen reasons not to drop the bomb
• Manhattan Project
• Fat Man - Trinity (atomic explosion) and Nagasaki
• Little Boy - Hiroshima
• Nuclear target structures
• Matsuyama

External links

• Hiroshima guide
• Shock treatment: horrible as the destruction at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was, a continuing war would have been far worse - Column at National Review