War and its heritage

Visits to Hiroshima's Peace Park and Nagasaki's peace park, often associated with dark tourism, should instead be recognized as 'peace-learning tourism.' This shift reflects their primary purpose: promoting perpetual world peace through intangible war heritage like annual memorial ceremonies and tangible heritage such as museums and cenotaphs. The study highlights the role of interpretation in maintaining authenticity and solemnity, contrasting the fate of Hiroshima's Genbaku Dome (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) with Nagasaki's Urakami Cathedral, which lost its original building materials post-war. The research approach involves analyzing war heritage's multifaceted nature—intangible, tangible affected by war, and tangible generated by war—while emphasizing the parks' educational value in fostering global peace.

Jimura, T. (2021). War and its heritage. Cultural Heritage and Tourism in Japan, 151–170. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429019173-8