Hiroshima Communications Hospital (A-bombed Building)

The Hiroshima Communications Hospital (広島逓信病院, Hiroshima Teishin Byōin) was an affiliated hospital of the Hiroshima Post and Telecommunications Bureau, designed by the distinguished modernist architect Yamada Mamoru of the Ministry of Communications Engineering Division. Completed on December 22, 1935, the two-story reinforced concrete structure (with a partial third-floor solarium) featured characteristically wide windows — a progressive design element for hospital architecture of the era.

On August 6, 1945, the atomic bomb "Little Boy" detonated approximately 1.37 kilometers from the hospital. The massive blast wave shattered all windows and warped their frames, and a fire broke out in the pharmacy. However, the reinforced concrete structure prevented the building from collapsing, and desperate firefighting by the staff saved the first floor and basement, although most of the second floor burned. The hospital immediately became one of the most important emergency medical facilities in the devastated city. Over 250 severely wounded victims flooded into the hospital on that first day alone. Of the hospital's 48 staff members, 37 became casualties.

Hospital director Dr. Hachiya Michihiko (蜂谷道彦) was at his home near the hospital when the bomb exploded; cut all over by flying glass, he made his way to the hospital, where he underwent surgery. He returned to duty on August 11 and made a critical medical observation: he noticed a progressive decrease in white blood cell counts among patients, alerting his staff on August 26 to what would come to be understood as acute radiation syndrome — one of the earliest clinical recognitions of atomic bomb illness. Dr. Hachiya subsequently wrote a detailed 56-day account of the hospital's experience, published in 1955 as "Hiroshima Diary" (ヒロシマ日記), which appeared in translation in 18 countries and became one of the most important primary source documents of the atomic bombing.

The original hospital building was eventually rebuilt in 1995, but the south wing — the former outpatient building — was preserved as the Hiroshima Teishin Hospital Former Outpatient Building A-bomb Reference Room (広島逓信病院旧外来棟被爆資料室). The preserved section retains original tiles from the day of the bombing on the first floor, as well as the old operating room and sterilization room. In 2018, the building was donated by Japan Post to Hiroshima City. For years it was normally kept locked, with visits by advance arrangement with the city's Peace Promotion Division except on August 6 (the annual atomic bomb commemoration day). After renovation work that began in 2025, it reopened on May 1, 2026 as the Former Hiroshima Teishin Hospital Outpatient Building Peace Museum (旧広島逓信病院外来棟平和資料館), an annex exhibition facility of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, with a new theater showing footage of the hospital before and after the bombing.

The building stands as a powerful testament to the medical response amid nuclear devastation, and particularly to the dedication of medical professionals who treated victims while suffering radiation exposure themselves. It is registered on Hiroshima City's official list of A-bombed buildings (被爆建物) and serves as an irreplaceable historical resource for understanding both the immediate humanitarian impact of the atomic bombing and the early medical understanding of radiation illness.