It was the morning of August 6th, 1945: the US bomber Enola Gay released its deadly payload over Hiroshima, Japan, a city that had been spared from earlier attacks. It was the first time nuclear weapons were used in war. The bomb destroyed most of the city and killed more than a hundred thousand people. The ruins of the old chamber of industry and commerce building have become a symbol of the city. In 1996, UNESCO declared the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, the Genbaku Dome, a World Heritage site. The city was completely rebuilt after World War II, and has developed into one of Japan's most important industrial sites. But there are many people who still suffer the effects of that first nuclear attack 58 years ago. Most of these victims live reclusively and are rarely seen in public. They just do not fit into the image that modern Japan has created for itself both inside and outside the country.

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Learn about modern Hiroshima. For more information on the movement to abolish nuclear weapons, visit the sites of The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and the Global Security Institute.