Janice Y.
Yelp
I've been to both Hiroshima's Peace Museum and now this one, and honestly, Hiroshima's is better with more vivid stories display and the Peace statues was just outside the museum where as here it's a 10 min walk and smaller museum in general. One regret I had last time in Hiroshima was not spending enough time there and missing the final section about what led to the bombing. So this time, I made sure to focus more on the ending, where I feel like that's where most visitors skip pass.
The entry fee here was 200 yen, with an optional audio guide for about 150 yen. The victim stories were mostly tucked away in a small video section near the end, with just two TVs. It wasn't ideal--only a couple people/groups could control it at once, and most visitors skipped it entirely. When the videos were in English, the audio was so quiet I could barely hear, and they only had Japanese subtitles. It would be much better if they had both English and Japanese subtitles for accessibility on every video.
The museum covers the horrors of the bombing, but it feels like they gloss over Japan's role in WWII and the events that led to it. They briefly explained why the U.S. decided to drop the bomb but didn't dive into why Japan attacked Pearl Harbor or its atrocities in Asia and the number of casualties in those events in the displays in the same brutal context. If they omit it entirely to focus on the bomb, okay but If they are going to mention the conflict briefly, I think they should be more thorough in the same way the way they describe the devastation of the bomb, they could do the same for other events. Big historical events that led to the conflict like the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, the Nanjing Massacre, Unit 731, comfort women and Japan's alliance with Nazi Germany were not mention in the large displays. I encourage everyone to look up these incidents to get a better picture in the depth of the conflict, Japan's colonialism, and the controversy on Japan's record in history. There were some mentions in the video tucked in the corner but sometimes they would use words like "saboteurs" or the Kwantung army to remove their association that they were Japanese operated. It's all in a section towards the end where people would just skip pass. I highly recommend people to check it out.
Foreign victims, like forced laborers from American to Korean soldiers, were only touched on the display, the audio guide skipped through entirely. I did find a Japanese survivor's video that talked about Korean forced laborers who were also victims of the bomb not getting water and treatment favored the Japanese victims, but it was buried with all the other victim videos so it was easy to miss.
It seems like the museum wants to focus on Japanese victims to drive home its anti-nuclear message, which is important, but it also feels like they're limit the extent on Japan's wartime actions. Maybe perhaps they think showing too much of that would undercut sympathy and their message. There was cruelty on both sides and both message can exist. Acknowledge and taking responsibility is an important role in establishing peace.
I also wonder how much Japanese kids learn about Japan's colonialism in school. I see a lot of Japanese students visit here on field trips, but I've heard from people who grew up in Japan that they only learned the full story of Japan's involvement in WWII after moving abroad. There's definitely room for improvement in how these difficult topics are presented.