You will not mistake Fukusai-ji for any other temple in Japan. The giant turtle-shaped concrete structure houses a memorial chamber where a long-period pendulum is kept swinging in perpetual remembrance of the war dead. The temple is open daytime only, with a small entry fee. Brief but worth a look on your way along the temple street, and a thought-provoking reminder that the bomb destroyed much more than the cathedral and the cathedral's neighbourhood.
Fukusai-ji
A story
The original 1628 temple was destroyed by the bomb on 9 August 1945 along with all 18,000 wartime victims it had been compiling records for. The replacement, completed in 1979, is shaped like a giant turtle 18 metres tall, topped by an 18-metre Kannon goddess of mercy. Inside, a 25-metre Foucault pendulum swings continuously over the names of the dead — one of the largest such pendulums in Japan.