HIROSHIMA - A proposal to allow children to decide whether to view graphic photographs and other harrowing materials at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum has sparked debate as the city marks the 81st anniversary of the atomic bombing.
Visitor numbers at the museum have increased in recent years, driven by factors including the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, an increase in foreign tourists and growing concern over an unstable international situation.
The museum received a record 2.58 million visitors in fiscal 2025, marking the third consecutive year in which attendance reached a new high.
While the increase is seen as encouraging for efforts to communicate the devastation caused by the atomic bomb, the growing crowds have also made it difficult for children visiting on school trips to examine the exhibits thoroughly.
The city has therefore decided to establish an exhibition specifically designed for children, including school excursion groups. Scheduled to open in fiscal 2028, it will focus on the belongings and diaries of children of similar ages who were killed in the bombing.
Officials are also considering whether areas containing especially graphic photographs and other distressing materials should be separated by walls and accompanied by clearly visible warnings, allowing children to choose for themselves whether to enter.
Warnings already exist in the museum's main building, but they have largely been written for adults and teachers accompanying school groups. Expressions such as "please take note" and "graphic images are displayed" have been considered too formal or difficult for younger visitors to understand.
The signs have also been placed in relatively inconspicuous locations, meaning many children may pass without noticing or fully understanding them.
The idea of optional viewing has drawn mixed responses from children and parents visiting Hiroshima.
A first-year junior high school student from Okinawa who supported the proposal said the displays felt as though they depicted somewhere other than Japan. The student said junior high school pupils might be able to view them, but the material could be too disturbing for elementary school children.
A third-year high school student from Okinawa opposed the proposal, saying that although the exhibits could be shocking, visitors should see everything and that there was no need to provide a choice.
The student's father said an optional system might be necessary but added that it was also important for everyone to learn about events that had actually taken place in Japan, describing the issue as difficult.
A third-year junior high school student from Yamagata said he would not have used an optional route because he wanted to understand the entire story properly.
A mother visiting from Tokyo supported giving children a choice, saying such an option could be appropriate while also expressing concern that disturbing exhibits might cause nightmares.
Opinions were similarly divided among people interviewed in Tokyo.
A person in their 30s supported optional viewing, recalling that seeing the museum's exhibits as a child caused such intense anxiety that it became difficult to absorb the broader story that visitors were supposed to learn.
A person in their 40s said offering a choice might be unavoidable in the current era, although they personally would want children to see the exhibits.
Former Japanese record holder in the women's 100-meter hurdles Asuka Terada said her sixth-grade daughter visited the museum in 2025 and described the exhibits as frightening.
Terada said her daughter appeared to feel that she should not tell adults she was scared and later explained that she had been unable to look at much of the exhibition.
She said the materials should provide an opportunity to think about the scale of the destruction, the importance of Japan's Three Non-Nuclear Principles and the need to reject war. Simply avoiding the exhibits because they are frightening, leaving only a sense of fear, would not fulfill that purpose, she said.
Supporters of optional viewing have pointed to Holocaust museums and war museums overseas, where access restrictions, age limits and separate exhibition zones are common.
They argue that while shock can sometimes prompt people to act, empathy and a shared understanding may be more effective in encouraging meaningful engagement.
Others have noted that the Hiroshima museum is a place people should visit more than once during their lives and that children do not necessarily have to be exposed to its most disturbing materials at a very young age.
Source: TBS
