President Obama amplified this message when he met with some of the survivors in Hiroshima in May, the first time a sitting President has ever done so.
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The bomb was dropped in Hiroshima 71 years ago, immediately claiming the lives of around 80,000 people.
Much of the city was incinerated by a wall of heat up to 4,000 C – hot enough to melt steel – killing tens of thousands.
At the ceremony, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged his determination to work toward the world free of nuclear arms. According to Japan Today, the book titled The Day When President Obama Visited Hiroshima contains the president’s full English speech accompanied by easy-to-read Japanese translation to reach wide range of audience.
The mayor urged the world to take action towards the abolition of “the ultimate form of inhumanity, united and with passion”.
Obama in May embraced survivors as he made his visit to the city and the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.
“It’s a handsome multigenerational evening, bringing together crafts, music, storytelling, and the floating of lanterns in a pool, all in remembrance of the tragedy so many years ago”, says Wendy Luella Perkins, an event organizer.
Back in May, Obama made a visit to Hiroshima, but he offered no apology for the USA bombings. But this week, as we join our hands and voices with the Hibakusha and call for the abolishment of all nuclear weapons, we make a start, and in a small way we pay homage to all those who have gone before us, irreparably impacted by the devastations of war.
Meanwhile, several books containing full transcript of President Obama’s speech at his visit to the sight of the first city bombed on May 27 are seeing good sales in Japan.
As noted in a National Geographic essay, the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings were largely justified in the minds of the American people, then and now. Three days later, the U.S. dropped another atomic bomb on Nagasaki.
Many young people, who did not grow up in the shadow of World War II or during the Cold War don’t understand the threat of nuclear weapons, said Cohen-Odiaga, a coordinator of Global Zero Boston, the group that organized the Sunday bike ride. Many were members of the organization United for Justice with Peace and have held regular protests against nuclear weapons and violence since 2002, in response to the military escalation post-9/11 and the lead-up to the war in Iraq.
A woman lights a candle as she prays Saturday for the atomic bomb victims in front of the cenotaph at the Hiroshima Peace Mem.
As reported by CNBC, just three days ago, MSNBC host Joe Scarborough broke the story that during a security briefing, Trump had allegedly asked repeatedly why the USA couldn’t simply use nuclear weapons on its enemies. In his latest Cabinet reshuffle, Abe appointed nationalist confidante Tomomi Inada as defence minister.
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Hiroshima’s atomic bomb memorial park has finally been cleared of Pokemon Go characters after complaints that it was insensitive.
