Hiroshima, western Honshu's largest city, needs little introduction, synonymous as it is with the atomic bomb that was dropped on the city in August 1945.

Visitors can pay their respects at the Peace Memorial Park, a poignant site dotted with memorials and a cenotaph containing the names of all the known victims of the bomb - 140,000 were killed instantly or died from the effects of radiation.

The twisted shell of the A-Bomb Dome is another powerful monument and is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Despite the suffering of the past, Hiroshima is today a peaceful and thriving modern city whose citizens have an international outlook not often found in Japan.