But for Hiroshima residents, the highlight of the meeting will be a visit by the ministers, including U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, to Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park on April 11 to lay flowers at the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims.
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Kerry arrived at a USA military base west of Hiroshima from Afghanistan for the two-day G7 gathering set to discuss a host of global issues including terrorism, Ukraine and North Korea, though the symbolism of his visit is overshadowing the broader diplomatic agenda.
The Foreign Ministers’ meeting is the first of the meetings of ministers’ from the seven industrial nations group that will culminate on May 25-26 with the leaders summit in Ise, central Japan.
“Japan called for the elimination of nuclear weapons at G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting”. They hope it will promote greater understanding of Japan’s staunch anti-nuclear stance as the only country to suffer atomic attack.
Kerry and his counterparts are on Monday scheduled to visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, which houses the ruins of the iconic domed building gutted by the blast, and an accompanying museum.
Kerry is on a weeklong tour of the Middle East and Asia that also included stops in Bahrain and Iraq. The strike on Nagasaki killed an estimated 40,000 people and led to an unprecedented radio address six days later by then Emperor Hirohito in which he announced Japan’s unconditional surrender, citing the devastating power of a “new and most cruel bomb”.
But Japan hopes to highlight pressing concerns in Asia, including China’s activities in the South China Sea and the North Korean nuclear threat.
Obama spoke of his desire for a nuclear-free world in a speech in Prague in 2009, but he hasn’t been to Hiroshima on any of his previous three visits to Japan as president.
But Hiroshima’s symbolism comes with contradictions given that Japan benefits from the USA nuclear arsenal, said Robert Dujarric, director of the Institute of Contemporary Asian Studies at Temple University.
About 80,000 people were instantly killed when the Enola Gay, a B-29 bomber, dropped the device on Hiroshima. “But the fact is that the president going to the memorial and, presumably, offering a statement could have unpredictable consequences at home, given that the politics of the USA atomic bombings is still fraught”.
However, a small group of about 30 protesters gathered in front of the atomic dome on Sunday to condemn the G7’s attitude and any Obama visit.
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“They came all the way to Hiroshima to say they would get rid of nuclear weapons – it’s all lies”, said Kyoko Taniguchi, one of the organisers.
