ABSTRACT
There are three types of war heritage namely intangible war heritage, tangible war heritage affected by war and tangible war heritage generated by war. War heritage is used as tourism resources and often studied in relation to dark tourism. Hiroshima City and Nagasaki City experienced atomic bombings in 1945. Many people lost their lives and the cities were devastated due to the bombings. However, both were revived through extensive redevelopment, creating a peace park surrounding the ground zero. Each peace park holds annual peace memorial ceremony and it is intangible war heritage. Interpretation plays a vital role in maintaining its authenticity and solemn atmosphere. Each peace park also contains tangible war heritage generated by war such as museums and cenotaphs. Whilst Genbaku Dome in Hiroshima and Urakami Cathedral in Nagasaki are representative examples of tangible heritage affected by war. Genbaku Dome is a WHS but Urakami Cathedral is not mainly because originality of building materials was lost. In a sense, visits to the peace parks can be understood as dark tourism. In fact, however, these parks seem to be keener to promote perpetual world peace and visitors can learn about peace there. Thus, such visits should be called peace-learning tourism.
