Orizuru tower is a relatively new tourist attraction in Hiroshima city center overlooking the Peace Memorial Park and A-bomb dome all the way to the rivers, mountains and islands beyond. The viewing platform on the top level offers a rare and beautiful view on clear days.

There are discounts for international visitors with rail passes or passports until September 2020 when buying a ticket to go up to the viewing platform. The next floor below the top viewing platform, there are interactive games and activities to fold paper cranes (the peace symbol of Hiroshima) and drop it down into the paper crane shoot which can be viewed from the outside as the walls are glass. There are historical explanations in English and Japanese on this floor worth reading. They have some English speaking staff and some information in English.

The first floor souvenir shop has a good selection of made-in-hiroshima gifts and goods- make sure to seek out the community equity-building section where you can buy goods made from recycled peace cranes [there are tens of thousands sent each year to Hiroshima and there isn't enough storage, so some have to be burnt. So, if possible please support any recycled orizuru crane products in Hiroshima and Nagasaki].

This is a great facility, and so many things are done well, but there are a few things that could be improved. They need to think of how to give locals more value as locals often want to bring visitors here, but there is no discount for locals or special services. In Hawaii we have the Kama'aina discounts for locals which works well to preserve a balance between meeting the needs of locals and visitors (happy locals = happy visitors too). Also, they need to be using recycled origami paper on the 13th floor which is then folded, dropped in the shoot and hopefully recycled again to create a #circulareconomy

There is also nowhere in the building to refill water bottles which could help improve the visitor experience and reduce plastic waste.

As the peace cranes have a deep meaning embodying a hope for peace, it would be more meaningful on recycled peace crane paper, right? The use of plastic is also wasteful at the cafe at the top and the 1st floor also do not have any #plantbased options, use a lot of #plasticstraws and #plastic cups and lids even for customers who eat-in. The plastic waste issue is a peace issue and offering vegan options helps reduce damage to environment - climate change is also a peace issue as it will be the cause of wars and refugees.

Any Hiroshima or Nagasaki facility like this which uses Peace in its branding needs to be operating at a higher ethical level with a greater effort to be a sustainable-business and balance the needs of the local community and visitors as well as seeking to reduce and limit damage to the environment- there does not seem to be any targets or initiatives in place here.