A-bombing exhibit aimed at abolition of nuclear weapons held by Hiroshima City at U.S. Pearl Harbor for first time
Aug. 19, 2020
(by Kyosuke Mizukawa, Staff Writer)
An exhibit titled “Of Silhouettes and Ash: The Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki” is now being held at the USS Battleship Missouri Memorial, located in Pearl Harbor, Honolulu, in the U.S. state of Hawaii. Pearl Harbor is the site where the Imperial Japanese Army engaged in an attack on the United States, marking the start of fighting in the Pacific theater of World War II. The exhibit is sponsored by the city governments of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, together with the USS Missouri Memorial Association, the organization that manages the memorial. The exhibit was planned with the aim of raising public awareness for the creation of peace and elimination of nuclear weapons.
The exhibit showcases 20 A-bombed artifacts, such as a blouse worn by a female student who suffered burns when the U.S. military dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and who died two days later, as well as a replica of a lunchbox with charred food still inside. Also on display are explanatory panels with photographs featuring the catastrophic conditions in the city after the atomic bombing.
The USS Battleship Missouri is where representatives of the Japanese government signed the Instrument of Surrender, the document that officially ended the war in the Pacific. Some in America are still of the opinion that the atomic bombings of Japan were justified, citing Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. Nevertheless, staff at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum paid a visit to the USS Battleship Missouri Memorial in 2017 and suggested holding an A-bombing exhibit there on site. The memorial accepted the offer and expressed its hope that the exhibit would create an opportunity for visitors to think about peace.
The municipal governments of Hiroshima and Nagasaki began to hold A-bombing exhibits overseas in fiscal 1995, with this the first time an exhibit has been held in Hawaii. The two cities also hoped to show the display at the USS Arizona Memorial, which stands over the USS Arizona, a battleship sunk in the attack on Pearl Harbor, but plan negotiations broke down this summer. Hiroshima and Nagasaki intend to continue discussions in future.
The exhibit, originally scheduled to kick off at the USS Battleship Missouri Memorial in July but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, finally got underway on August 13, local Hawaii time. Takuo Takigawa, director of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, sent a message to be used at the exhibit’s opening ceremony held on that day, indicating his sincere request that the memorial make efforts to work in concert with his museum to realize “elimination of nuclear weapons and lasting world peace.” The exhibit will continue until the end of November. Negotiations are now underway to hold an exhibit on the campus of the University of Hawaii at Hilo after the exhibit concludes at the Battleship Missouri Memorial.
(Originally published on August 19, 2020)
An exhibit titled “Of Silhouettes and Ash: The Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki” is now being held at the USS Battleship Missouri Memorial, located in Pearl Harbor, Honolulu, in the U.S. state of Hawaii. Pearl Harbor is the site where the Imperial Japanese Army engaged in an attack on the United States, marking the start of fighting in the Pacific theater of World War II. The exhibit is sponsored by the city governments of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, together with the USS Missouri Memorial Association, the organization that manages the memorial. The exhibit was planned with the aim of raising public awareness for the creation of peace and elimination of nuclear weapons.
The exhibit showcases 20 A-bombed artifacts, such as a blouse worn by a female student who suffered burns when the U.S. military dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and who died two days later, as well as a replica of a lunchbox with charred food still inside. Also on display are explanatory panels with photographs featuring the catastrophic conditions in the city after the atomic bombing.
The USS Battleship Missouri is where representatives of the Japanese government signed the Instrument of Surrender, the document that officially ended the war in the Pacific. Some in America are still of the opinion that the atomic bombings of Japan were justified, citing Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. Nevertheless, staff at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum paid a visit to the USS Battleship Missouri Memorial in 2017 and suggested holding an A-bombing exhibit there on site. The memorial accepted the offer and expressed its hope that the exhibit would create an opportunity for visitors to think about peace.
The municipal governments of Hiroshima and Nagasaki began to hold A-bombing exhibits overseas in fiscal 1995, with this the first time an exhibit has been held in Hawaii. The two cities also hoped to show the display at the USS Arizona Memorial, which stands over the USS Arizona, a battleship sunk in the attack on Pearl Harbor, but plan negotiations broke down this summer. Hiroshima and Nagasaki intend to continue discussions in future.
The exhibit, originally scheduled to kick off at the USS Battleship Missouri Memorial in July but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, finally got underway on August 13, local Hawaii time. Takuo Takigawa, director of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, sent a message to be used at the exhibit’s opening ceremony held on that day, indicating his sincere request that the memorial make efforts to work in concert with his museum to realize “elimination of nuclear weapons and lasting world peace.” The exhibit will continue until the end of November. Negotiations are now underway to hold an exhibit on the campus of the University of Hawaii at Hilo after the exhibit concludes at the Battleship Missouri Memorial.
(Originally published on August 19, 2020)
