How History is Presented in the Atomic Bomb Museums of Nagasaki and Hiroshima

By: Hanne Sjøgren
Supervisor: Professor Tone Bringa

This thesis focuses on the way in which the atomic bomb museums of Nagasaki and Hiroshima present the history of the atomic bombings through the use of artefacts, art and emotional appeal to the visitors. Museums representing the history of mass death and devastating disasters seek to educate and invoke a sense of responsibility in their visitors through different methods and representation of the content the museums inhabit. This way of representing history to convey a message of remembrance to the whole of humanity is not unique to Japan. The museums of Japan share numerous similarities with the Holocaust History Museum in Jerusalem, Yad Vashem. In this thesis I will make a comparison between the two atomic bomb museums in Japan and the different aspects of their representation of tragic history. Through this thesis I seek to make a contribution to the anthropology of museums.