Hiroshima

Hiroshima exists because of one bomb—and because of what happened after. On August 6, 1945, at 8:15 AM, the first atomic weapon used in warfare destroyed the city center and killed over 70,000 people instantly. But four months later, the Toyo Kogyo factory (later Mazda) reopened. The company that had made cork, then three-wheeled trucks, began producing vehicles for Japan's reconstruction—hosting the prefectural government in its premises while the city rebuilt around it.

That pattern of resilience defines Hiroshima's economy. Mazda, headquartered here since 1920, produces a million vehicles annually and anchors an automotive supply chain that echoes Toyota's relationship with Aichi. The company's 1931 pivot from cork to vehicles, its wartime survival, its postwar reconstruction role, and its 1990s rescue by Ford all demonstrate what biologists call disturbance adaptation—the capacity to absorb shocks and reorganize. Mazda's 2025 Monozukuri Innovation 2.0 initiative now prepares for the EV transition, planning to decommission coal power at the Hiroshima Plant by 2030.

The bomb also created an industry: peace tourism. The Hiroshima Peace Memorial (Genbaku Dome) draws 1.7 million visitors annually, making the city a pilgrimage site for nuclear disarmament advocates worldwide. By 2026, Hiroshima faces twin transitions: Mazda's electrification and the city's evolution from war memorial to climate action advocate. A city that survived atomic fire now markets itself as proof that destruction can be regenerated—a message with uncomfortable relevance as climate pressures intensify.