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Hiroshima and Nagasaki send letter to Obama Foundation, invite former president to visit A-bombed cities

by Kyosuke Mizukawa, Staff Writer

On March 8, in the wake of a report that the Japanese government is making final arrangements for former U.S. President Barack Obama to visit Japan in late March, the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have sent a letter, written in English, to the Obama Foundation in Chicago, urging him to visit both A-bombed cities while he is in Japan.

The letter, which was sent under the joint names of Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui and Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue, states that Mr. Obama’s visit to Hiroshima in May 2016 consequently led to a series of visits by other world leaders to the A-bombed cities and that both cities have come to realize that this visit had an important impact on the world and gave people greater courage for the cause of nuclear abolition. The letters asks Mr. Obama to now visit Nagasaki to send a strong message to the world, for the abolition of nuclear weapons, from this other A-bombed city.

At the same time, the letter also says that the citizens of Hiroshima would sincerely like Mr. Obama to return to this city. A staff member of the city’s Peace Promotion Division said that a speech made by Mr. Obama from Hiroshima would give hope and courage to everyone in the world that strongly desires the abolition of nuclear arms, but if the former president is unable to visit Hiroshima on this occasion, its citizens are eager for him to return one day in the very near future.

(Originally published on March 9, 2018)

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