Last Updated: Aug 1, 2023

Braving a Visit To Kure

A Neglected Side of Hiroshima

Let’s face it. When it comes to tourism and Japanese history, the period of World War II often gets skipped over completely. While visitors to Japan do indeed flock to Hiroshima’s Atomic Bomb Dome, rarely do you see anyone seeking out any other attraction related to Japan’s wartime past. For reasons that are far too complicated for the scope of a travel guide, it just seems like this part of history is off limits. I’ve always maintained that people should visit Yasukuni Shrine’s Yushukan to consider the other side of the narrative, yet I get the sense that locales related to World War II are taboo.

On that note, I’d like to break with the status quo and introduce a spot that rarely, if ever, is mentioned in the travel guides, Hiroshima Prefecture’s Kure. Located on the ever-beautiful Seto Inland Sea, this vital port and shipbuilding city served as the headquarters of the Kure Naval District. Throughout the entirety of the Pacific War, this now-unknown part of Hiroshima Prefecture served as Japan’s single-largest arsenal and naval base. Today, the city continues to serve as a major maritime center harboring many seafaring vessels associated with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force.