That fateful moment is etched in the minds of the Japanese people: At 8:15 a.m., Aug. 6, 1945, the world's first atomic bomb exploded over Hiroshima. Inscribed on the memorial cenotaph for the deceased victims, located at the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, is a vow "never to repeat the mistake." The inscription is a commitment to the elimination of nuclear weapons.

Near the cenotaph is the newly completed National Peace Memorial Hall for the Deceased Victims of the Atomic Bomb. Fittingly, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi cut the ribbon at an opening ceremony Tuesday, the 57th anniversary of the bombing. The floor of the second basement is covered with about 140,000 tiles -- the number of victims who died by the end of 1945. A section of the hall displays a panoramic reproduction of devastated Hiroshima streets immediately after the blast.

On the way to the display corner there is a sloped passage with six wall panels summarizing the circumstances leading up to the bombing as well as the casualties and damage it caused. The writing on the last panel translates as: "While praying for those who died from the atomic bombing and remembering the many who fell victim to the erroneous national policy, we hereby pledge to hand down our memories of the tragedy to posterity, disseminate them here and abroad and build a peaceful world without nuclear weapons as soon as possible so that the same tragedy will never be repeated."