Within the bomb’s hypocenter, only the half-exploded Genbaku Dome – formerly the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall – was left standing as the bombing razed Hiroshima city to the ground. A man relaxes alongside the river on a bench overlooking the Genbaku Dome. ET), Hiroshima city lost roughly 40% of its population, which numbered around 300,000 people at the time. Full-scale reconstruction only began in August 1949 after the Hiroshima Peace Memorial City Construction Law was promulgated, allowing the national government to extend special financial support to Hiroshima. “It’s impressive how Japanese people rebuilt the city from scratch again – building a beautiful city full of green spaces.

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