Hiroshima Orizuru Tower: Travel Guide (4.0★)

The Dome from above

Most visitors see the Atomic Bomb Dome at eye level. This tower shows it to you from above. The rooftop observation deck sits right next to it, so the shattered steel frame of the dome lies almost under your feet. Beyond it, the Motoyasu and Honkawa rivers split around the long green wedge of Peace Memorial Park.

Lift your eyes and the rest of Hiroshima comes into view. The flat river delta runs out to the hills that ring the city on three sides. On clear days the view stretches south toward the Seto Inland Sea. The deck is open to the air, so wind and sun reach you directly.

Downstairs is a first-floor café, a sensible place to sit before or after the deck.

Folding a crane for the wall

The tower is named for the orizuru, the folded paper crane. Since Sadako Sasaki, the cranes have stood for peace in Hiroshima. Inside, you can fold one yourself and drop it into a tall glass wall that fills with visitors’ cranes. From the street the wall shows as a band of colour behind the glass.

Plan for 60–90 minutes in total:

• Deck: 30–45 minutes, longer if you are photographing the park
• Crane folding: 15–20 minutes, with instructions provided
• Café: however long your legs need after the Peace Park

Getting there and going on

The address is 1-chōme-2-1 Ōtemachi. The quickest way in is the Hiroden streetcar to Genbaku Dome-mae stop, on lines 2 and 6 from Hiroshima Station. The tower is across the road from the stop. The ride takes about 15 minutes, and you pay as you leave by the rear door.

Everything nearby is walkable:

• Atomic Bomb Dome: next door
• Peace Memorial Park and Children’s Peace Monument: across the Aioi Bridge
• Peace Memorial Museum: about 10 minutes south on foot
• Hondōri shopping arcade: about 5 minutes east
• Hiroshima Castle: about 15 minutes north

Timing the deck around the crowds

Go up first, then walk the park. At the moment the tower opens at 10am and closes at 6pm. Observation decks change their hours with the seasons, so check the official site for this month’s times.

The 10am–11am slot is usually the calmest, on weekdays and weekends. Try not to arrive between 1pm and 5pm on a weekend. That is when the deck and lifts are busiest, and the crane tables fill with families. If you start at 10am, you can catch the view in morning light and still reach the Peace Memorial Museum before midday.

Buy tickets at the ground-floor counter, where the current prices are posted. Lifts take you to the top. The deck is a quiet place, out of respect for what you are looking down on. People talk softly near the railing facing the Dome, and you rarely see posed selfies there. Fold your crane slowly; nobody rushes you at the tables.

If it is raining or hazy, think about leaving the tower until later. The deck has no glass on its open sections, and the view is the whole reason to go up.