On August 1st, the National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims opened in Peace Memorial Park in Naka-ku, Hiroshima City. Visitors placed their hands together prayerfully in front of photos of their lost loved ones. Young people pored over written A-bomb testimonials. The mourning will continue and the message will be transmitted down through time.

However, acts running contrary to these continue to occur all around the world. The terrorist attacks on the U.S. last September 11 brought a round of revenge attacks. The 21st century has ushered in a new age with a different kind of war between nations.

Regional conflicts carried over from the 20th century have taken a turn for the worse, as we see in India and Pakistan. People are even shouting about a new kind of nuclear war. What message should Hiroshima be sending to counter the movement to forget about what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

An explanation at the entrance to the Hall of Remembrance in Memorial Hall, a facility operated by the national government, contains the words, ".. The many lives sacrificed to mistaken national policy."

It is clear from the context that the government of Japan is responsible for providing assistance to survivors living overseas. The government announced a new assistance policy at the end of 2001, but it left in place the "wall" that was at issue previously: the stipulation that survivors living overseas can receive the same benefits as survivors in Japan only by coming to Japan. Even some survivors in Japan feel that "the government is reluctant to recognize diseases as stemming from A-bomb exposure" and are turning from group petitions to group lawsuits.

We must listen carefully to the voices of A-bomb survivors, whether they live in Japan or overseas.

In his Peace Declaration on August 6, Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba will emphasize the importance of the memories of the bombing and call for reconciliation and humanity around the world.

The number of hibakusha living in Hiroshima City is 86,779 (as of the end of March 2002). They comprise 7.8% of the total population, but among the population 65 year or older, one in three experienced the bombing that day. All those memories live on in our city today. On August 6, when the air fills with silent prayers, let us all remember the past and imagine a future that will lead to peace.

(Caption)People line up in front of the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims. Tomorrow is the 57th anniversary of the atomic bombing. (Peace Memorial Park, Naka-ku, Hiroshima City)