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US President Obama's Visit to Hiroshima
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On May 27, 2016, taking the opportunity of his attendance at G7 JAPAN 2016 Ise-Shima, U.S. President Barack Obama visited Hiroshima with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
It was the first time for a sitting president of the United States to visit the atomic-bombed city.
Tour of Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum
After arriving at Peace Memorial Park, President Obama was met by Prime Minister Abe and they made their way to the Peace Memorial Museum together.
In front of the museum, they were met by Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui, and Hiroshima Prefecture Governor Hidehiko Yuzaki.
In the museum the President looked intently at displays such as paper cranes made by Sadako Sasaki and listened to explanations by Foreign Minister Kishida.
The President then handed two paper cranes he had folded himself to the elementary school student and junior high school student who had met him there, and he also added two paper cranes to the guest book that he wrote in.
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President Obama wrote in the guest book:
"We have known the agony of war. Let us now find the courage, together, to spread peace and pursue a world without nuclear weapons."
Prime Minister Abe wrote:
"I express my sincere condolences to all the victims of the atomic bombings. I pray for lasting peace and will do my utmost to realize a world free of nuclear weapons."
Laying of Wreath and Speech at Cenotaph for the Atomic Bomb Victims
After touring the Peace Memorial Museum, the two leaders proceeded to the Cenotaph for the Atomic Bomb Victims, led by U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy, Foreign Minister Kishida, Mayor Matsui and Governor Yuzaki.
They laid wreathes that they had been handed by high school students who have been designated as Youth Communicators for a World without Nuclear Weapons, and offered a silent prayer.
Both leaders then made speeches.
In his speech, President Obama touched on the horrors of the atomic bombing, and expressed the importance of communicating the atomic bombing experience to later generations.
He stated "But among those nations like my own that hold nuclear stockpiles, we must have the courage to escape the logic of fear, and pursue a world without them",
thus calling for the political leaders of the world to renew their resolve to create a world free of nuclear weapons.
Finally, he said that if we choose a peaceful future, it will be
"a future in which Hiroshima and Nagasaki are known not as the dawn of atomic warfare, but as the start of our own moral awakening."
In this way he expressed the importance of using the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombing experience as the starting point for facing the future.
These statements by the President demonstrate that he understands and accepts the sincere wish of the hibakusha for the abolition of nuclear weapons, their wish that
"no one else should ever suffer as we have."
It also created an opportunity for many people who had not taken an interest in this issue before to think about the abolition of nuclear weapons and consider the atomic bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Prime Minister Abe stated in his speech that the fact that the President of the United States had seen for himself the reality of the damage caused by the atomic bombing and renewed his resolve to realize a world free of nuclear weapons, had given great hope to the people of the world who fervently believe in a nuclear-free world.
He also stated that carrying on the wish of the hibakusha to never repeat such a tragic experience anywhere in the world, and continuing tireless efforts to achieve a world
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Paper cranes folded by President Obama
President Obama offers a silent prayer
after laying a wreath
Speech by President Obama
Speech by Prime Minister Abe
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free of nuclear weapons, is the responsibility of us living now, and he vowed to fulfill that responsibility.
Speaking with Hibakusha
After his speech, President Obama exchanged some words with Mr. Sunao Tsuboi, who is himself a hibakusha and chairperson of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, as well as with Mr. Shigeaki Mori, also a hibakusha, who conducted a survey on twelve American prisoners of war who lost their lives in the atomic bombing.
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Hibakusha in conversation with the two leaders (right: Mr. Tsuboi, left: Mr. Mori)
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Explanation of Atomic Bomb Dome
The two leaders then proceeded to Atomic Bomb Dome, and looking at the Dome from the North side of the Flame of Peace, listened to the explanation by Foreign Minister Kishida.
President Obama also listened intently as Mr. Kishida provided explanations of the Children's Peace Monument and the paper cranes that have been sent from all over the world, which can be seen in front of the Atomic Bomb Dome.
Press Conference by Mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
After President Obama's visit to Hiroshima ended, Mayor Matsui was interviewed together with Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue.
He expressed his gratitude to the governments of Japan and the United States for achieving the visit to a region hit by the atomic bomb by a sitting American president, something that both cities had been calling for over many years.
He also commented that by actually seeing the damage caused by the bombing and coming into contact with the experience of the hibakusha and their desire for peace, President Obama
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Press conference by mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
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now had an even stronger resolve to achieve a world without nuclear weapons.
He also expressed his expectation for the Japanese government to take the lead in international debate on the abolition of nuclear weapons, in its role as a bridge between nuclear weapon states and non-nuclear weapon states.
Mayor Matsui said that this visit by President Obama could lead to visits to Hiroshima and Nagasaki by other world leaders, and as such is an historic starting point to make progress together toward a world free of nuclear weapons.
The Mayor said that for future initiatives,
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Hiroshima City will work together with Nagasaki City to build international momentum, by continuing with calls for the people of the world to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and calling for the abolishment of nuclear weapons through Mayors for Peace activities.
(Photographs: 'Paper cranes folded by President Obama' provided by Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, others provided by the City of Hiroshima)
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| (Peace and International Solidarity Promotion Division) |
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