Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima
Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chugoku region of western
Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It is best known as the
first city in history to be targeted by a nuclear weapon when the
United States Army Air Forces dropped an atomic bomb on it at
8:15 a.m. on August 6, 1945, near the end of World War II. Its
name means "Wide Island". Hiroshima gained city status
on April 1, 1889. On April 1, 1980, Hiroshima became a designated
city.
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