The atomic bombing of Hiroshima on the 6th of August, 1945 caused enormous damage to the city. Yet, Hiroshima’s industrial economy was able to be rebuilt and made a remarkable recovery. How was Hiroshima able to rebuild its industrial economy so quickly? This chapter investigates Hiroshima’s recovery and reconstruction process using the following sources:

1) The Census of Manufactures was mainly used to study the manufacturing industry trends in Hiroshima Prefecture, focusing on the postwar reconstruction period to the middle of the 1960s. The conditions of the several years directly after the war were compared with those of the several years directly before the war.

2) The Census of Manufactures reviews its statistics by prefecture. While the figures for Hiroshima Prefecture were used primarily, this chapter endeavored to include as much data compiled by the City of Hiroshima as possible.

3) In order to complement the analyses of these statistical data, this chapter also referred to Hiroshima Kenshi (History of Hiroshima Prefecture) and Hiroshima Shinshi (History of Postwar Hiroshima) to research the influence of the institutions and policies and the situations surrounding the development of infrastructures at the time.

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