Hiroshima rebuilt itself as a design city. Three days cover Van Gogh and Dalí, Japan's first public contemporary art museum, Murano's 1954 concrete cathedral, Wednesday-night kagura, and a National Treasure hall that stood through 1945.
Founded 1978 by Hiroshima Bank as a memorial to the city's recovery. The circular main hall holds Van Gogh's Daubigny's Garden, Monet, Renoir and Picasso, with a strong Japanese yōga wing. Open 9:00–17:00, closed Mondays.
The 1968 prefectural collection sits beside Shukkeien and centres on Salvador Dalí's Dream of Venus, Ikuo Hirayama's Silk Road paintings and Setouchi crafts. Open 9:00–17:00, until 19:00 on Fridays, closed Mondays.
Hiroshi Sambuichi's 2016 tower stands directly across from the A-Bomb Dome: a louvred timber-and-glass skin, an open-air top deck catching the delta wind, and a 50 m spiral slide running down the outside of the shaft.
Togo Murano's 1954 concrete basilica in Noboricho, built with donations from Cologne and Düsseldorf, was designated an Important Cultural Property in 2006 — the first postwar building in Japan to be listed. Open daily, free.
Kisho Kurokawa's 1989 hilltop building in Hijiyama Park was Japan's first public contemporary art museum — split granite walls, a sunken circular plaza and outdoor sculpture along the approach path. Open 10:00–17:00, closed Mondays.
Japan's first public manga library, at the foot of Hijiyama, keeps about 160,000 volumes including Shōnen Jump back issues from the 1960s. Readers take stacks onto the lawn outside. Free entry, 10:00–17:00, closed Mondays.
A brick 1911 rice warehouse in Ujina that survived the blast, now showing oyster-raft rigging, Kumano brush and Miyajima woodcraft demonstrations, and a full-scale kaki-bune oyster boat. Open 9:00–17:00, closed Mondays.
Village troupes from northern Hiroshima perform masked kagura here on Wednesday evenings from 19:00 — Yamata-no-Orochi serpent dances with quick-change costumes, drums and flute. Tickets about ¥1,000 at the door.
Founded 809 on a wooded hill west of the city, with three waterfalls, moss stairs and 500 stone Buddhas. Its 1526 two-storey pagoda was moved here from Wakayama in 1951 to console the atomic dead. Grounds open 8:00–17:00.
Two minutes north of Hiroshima Station by JR, Yokogawa is the independent quarter: Yokogawa Cinema's single arthouse screen, second-hand record shops, coffee roasters, and the monthly Yokogawa Sōzō Marché street market.
The Kondō golden hall of 1540 is a National Treasure and one of very few pre-1945 wooden buildings left standing in Hiroshima — 4 km from the hypocenter, it came through 6 August intact. Grounds open 9:00–16:30.
On the 8th floor of the Fukuya department store, Hatchōza is built like a kabuki playhouse — paper lanterns, wood lattice, reclining seats and staff who announce each film aloud before the lights drop. Two screens.