Photo/Illutration A long line forms for tickets outside the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum on Feb. 10. (Akari Uozumi)

HIROSHIMA–Increased attention from the Group of Seven summit and the release of the blockbuster film "Oppenheimer" helped fuel record numbers visiting the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum here in fiscal 2023.

Museum officials reported 1,981,617 people passing through the doors during the fiscal year that ended in March.

The previous record was set in fiscal 2016, with more than 1.73 million visitors following Barack Obama's historic visit as the first sitting U.S. president to travel to Hiroshima.

The record was surpassed again in fiscal 2019, when the museum's main building reopened after a major two-year renovation and attracted more than 1.75 million visitors.

The museum, which opened in 1955, commemorates the U.S. atomic bombing of the city on Aug. 6, 1945.

The latest record attendance is likely due to visits by G-7 leaders who attended a summit in the city in May last year, according to municipal officials.

The global success of "Oppenheimer," a biopic about the theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer who led the creation of the atomic bomb, has also contributed to an increased focus on Hiroshima.

Despite controversy surrounding the scientist's legacy, the film finally opened in Japan in March, eight months after its release in the United States.

"Movies and media certainly have a great influence,” said Shiro Tani, vice chairman of the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation. “Many foreign visitors I speak with mention 'Oppenheimer.'"

A man who visited the museum with his wife on a weekend in February cited the worldwide coverage of the G-7 leaders touring the museum and signing the guestbook. 

"I decided to come partly because of the summit,” said a man in his 40s from the neighboring city of Higashi-Hiroshima. “It was heartbreaking, I wonder what the G-7 leaders saw and how they felt."

Giuseppe Gorgone, a 25-year-old tourist from Italy, said he visited the museum because he felt that the current situation in war-torn Gaza is the same as Hiroshima in the past.

Given the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and the Russian threat of nuclear weapon use in Ukraine, Gorgone and other international visitors find Hiroshima's peace heritage message even more relevant today.

Also driven by the rebound in tourism after the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions and the weak yen, the number of foreign visitors to the museum hit a record high by the end of December.

A volunteer guide at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, in which the museum is located, said visitors from outside the prefecture have increased since the COVID-related restrictions were lifted.

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