The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum has received a record number of visitors for the second year in a row.

The museum in the western Japanese city of Hiroshima says 1.984 million people have come as of Sunday since the start of the current fiscal year last April.

With nearly two months left before the fiscal year ends, the number has already exceeded the previous record set last fiscal year by over 2,000 people.

Located inside Hiroshima Peace Park, the museum stores about 22,000 items that describe the damage caused by the 1945 atomic bombing, including belongings of people who died.

Museum officials attribute the new record to the growing sentiment among people around the world that the international security environment has become unstable and that peace is under threat.

They also say the museum has been drawing global attention since the Group of Seven summit was held in the atomic-bombed city in 2023.

One visitor on Monday said that the record number means more people have interest in peace and Hiroshima.

The museum's director Ishida Yoshifumi says the movement for nuclear abolition is gaining momentum as Japanese atomic bomb survivors' group Nihon Hidankyo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year.

But he noted that there is also a growing wariness around the world about the use of nuclear weapons.
Ishida also called for more people to visit the museum to see the reality of atomic bombings.