Within 500 m of Ground Zero in Nagasaki in 1945 after the US Army’s atomic bombing, there was the rubble of a Roman Catholic cathedral known as St Mary’s. The area was already noted for its association with a Catholic community, and with the early Christian mission to Japan. While Hiroshima has today the iconic and well-known World Heritage-listed “Atomic Bomb Dome,” Nagasaki has no similar remaining ruins due to the eventual destruction of the ruins of the cathedral. In 1958, the wreck of the church was razed in order that a new sanctuary could be built here, supported partially by monies from the United States. This rebuilding, however, was not achieved without controversy due to city council and “hibakusha” or survivor concerns that without the ruins the atomic bombing would not be properly remembered. Even as the city authorities wanted to preserve the ruins for their economic and symbolic value, for the Catholic community, the imperative of rebuilding extended beyond symbolism to the value of the cathedral as a material communal resource, worth more to this group than the tourist market value of the ruins for the city of Nagasaki.