Nagasaki A-Bomb Museum Sees Steep Rise in Visitor Numbers

The Yomiuri Shimbun

13:30 JST, July 23, 2025

The number of visitors to the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum in fiscal 2024 surpassed 800,000 for the first time in over two decades, the Nagasaki municipal government announced on Tuesday.

A total of 810,825 people visited the museum, an increase of 6.9% from the previous fiscal year and exceeding 800,000 for the first time since fiscal 2001.

The increase can be attributed partly to a rise in the number of foreign visitors, driven by the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize last year to Nihon Hidankyo (Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations).

According to the city, the museum saw an increase in visitors for the fourth consecutive year. Most noticeably, the number of foreign visitors increased 26.1% to 122,412, exceeding 100,000 for the first time in six years.

The museum welcomed the most visitors in its history in fiscal 1996, the year it opened, when about 1,135,000 came through the doors. Since fiscal 2002, the annual number has been steadily in the 650,000-750,000 range, but plunged to about 230,000 in fiscal 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The municipal government’s peace promotion division concluded that an increase in cruise ship calls to Nagasaki was also among the factors that contributed to the increase.

“The current tense world situation and the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize may have heightened global interest in nuclear weapons,” an official of the division said.