HIROSHIMA, Japan — It seems only appropriate that a light rain fell on the Industrial Promotion Hall, ensuring that the setting was in fact somber. This site holds a very unique place in world history — it’s the site of the first atomic bomb ever used in war.

Dozens of tourists snapped pictures and took video. Groups of school kids took in the building, no doubt on a field trip to learn about their nation’s past.

The Industrial Promotion Hall, today known as the A-Bomb Dome, is a tourist attraction, but first and foremost for the people of Hiroshima, it’s the center of plea for peace and the focal point of a calling to eliminate all atomic weapons from the face of the Earth. It’s a bit peculiar to think of this as a tourist attraction. Why do people come here? The answer is hard to define.

The Industrial Promotion Hall was completed on April 5, 1915, and was located near the bomb’s hypo-center. It is one of the few buildings to survive the blast. Historic photographs of the city show a landscape flattened by the blast, with just a few structures still standing — one being the shell of the Industrial Promotion Hall. But, the building is just one of a few important landmarks dedicated to Aug. 6, 1945.

The Atomic Bomb Memorial Mound holds the ashes of 70,000 unidentified people who were killed in the bombing. The Flame of Peace has burned since it was completed on Aug. 1, 1964, and it will remain lit until all atomic weapons are eliminated from the planet. The Cenotaph for the A-Bomb Victims (also know as the Memorial Monument for Hiroshima, City of Peace) includes a stone chest with the names of everyone known to have been killed by the bomb.

Perhaps the centerpiece of Peace Park is the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum provides a detailed overview of Hiroshima before and after the blast. The museum houses artifacts recovered from the city, maps showing what the city looked like on the day of the blast and information about the Manhattan Project and the development of the atomic bomb.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I’m avoiding offering any commentary on the decision to drop the atomic bomb, instead saving that discussion for another day. I will say the museum does a decent job of putting the bomb into the context of World War II and it’s clear that it was Japan that preemptively bombed Pearl Harbor and brought the U.S. into War. The museum also lays out some of Japanese aggression throughout Asia leading up to World War II. Still, it’s important to note that the museum tells about the bombing from a Japanese perspective and tries to paint the country in the best possible light.

As a bit of historical context, during World War II, Hiroshima was an important military town, but it more or less escaped major bombing. In fact, one the U.S. selected the city as one of four possible sites to drop an atomic bomb, air raids on the city were prohibited.

In all, though it’s hard to put into words, Hiroshima is a place everyone visiting Japan should experience. It was a bit of a long train ride from Tokyo — two Shinkansen trains — but in my estimation, it was well worth the time it took to travel there.

On a side note, we ran into a few school kids who wanted to me my friends and I and have their pictures taken with us. It’s a bit ironic, in a way. Sixty-plus years after Americans destroyed the city near the end of a grueling war, it was three Americans that a half-dozen Japanese school kids were clamoring to meet.

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Following Hiroshima, we made our way to Miyajima Island, located on the Sanyo Coast and home to The Great Torii (the entrance to Itsukushima Shrine, which was founded in 593). The island is also home to Goju-no-to, a five-story pagoda built in 1407 that overlooks the shrine. Perhaps on any other day (one that wasn’t overcast and rainy), the island would be incredibly picturesque.

The island is accessible by two ferry companies and features a myriad of shops and unpaved roads. Wild deer, clearly accustomed to human interaction, freely roam the island and make little effort to avoid being the subject of tourists’ pictures. Two deer even tried to take part in a portrait that one school class was having made. It wasn’t until an adult with the group (presumably a teacher) broke out an umbrella that the deer decided to seek his entertainment elsewhere.