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by Yumi Kanazaki, Staff Writer

The City of Hiroshima has announced a sister park agreement between Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in the city’s Naka Ward, where the Peace Memorial Museum and the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims now stand on the land devastated by the U.S. atomic bombing, and Pearl Harbor National Memorial in Hawaii, which is related to the attack on Pearl Harbor by former Japanese forces and the start of the Pacific War. Takashi Hiraoka, 95, former mayor of Hiroshima, criticizes the agreement, saying it is no different from scotching Hiroshima’s idea of peace. The Chugoku Shimbun interviewed him.

The agreement will be signed at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo on June 29, with Ambassador Rahm Emanuel and Mayor Kazumi Matsui in attendance. How do you feel about this?
Hiroshima is a sister city to Honolulu, where the memorial is located. Friendship between the local governments and citizens is important, but this agreement was proposed to the city by the U.S. government. Exchange between the parks is possible without such an agreement, so what is the intention? Why now? What concerns me more than the content of the agreement is the possibility of stronger tendency both in Japan and the U.S. to say, “Let's get along with each other” without holding the U.S. accountable for the atomic bombings.

The Hiroshima City government said that the beginning was the summit of the Group of Seven industrialized nations that took place in Hiroshima in May.
The A-bombed cities have always rejected nuclear deterrence from a global citizens’ point of view, which is different from “national interests,” and have emphasized that security without nuclear weapons is the realism of peace. But in the “Hiroshima Vision,” a document released at the summit, the seven nations that depend on nuclear weapons, including Japan and the U.S., said nuclear weapons are necessary and useful.

It is significant that this statement was released from the A-bombed city of Hiroshima at a conference chaired by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who represents Hiroshima. The world will see Hiroshima and the Japanese government as having jointly recognized nuclear deterrence and having put aside the banner of the abolition of nuclear weapons. Furthermore, this time the city accepted the proposal of the U.S. government. This is no different from scotching Hiroshima’s idea of peace. The series of moves from the summit to this agreement is a major turning point in postwar history.

The two parks were established for different purposes and with different backgrounds.
The atomic bombings were indiscriminate mass killings and wounding of civilians, and Peace Memorial Park is a place to mourn the victims. The attack on Pearl Harbor, on the other hand, was a battle between the U.S. and Japanese forces that began with a surprise attack by the former Japanese Navy. The main facilities in the National Memorial are named after warships and have an aspect of honoring the dead as war heroes. This is related to the historical view that the dropping of the atomic bombs was necessary and justifiable to end the war. The attacks should not be treated equally, nor should their damage offset that of each other’s.

There is also a difference in terms of taking war responsibility. In Japan, Class A war criminals were punished at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, or Tokyo Trial. We should not stop asking ourselves about Japan’s aggression. People have different opinions about the trial. But Japan has abided by certain steps internationally in receiving punishment. On the other hand, the U.S. has not held anyone accountable for the country’s actions that were a violation of international law even at that time.

The city government shows a positive attitude, saying, “We will endure the sorrows of the past, overcome hatred, and play a role as a bridge for peace and reconciliation in a future-oriented way of thinking.”
“Future-oriented thinking” is not bad in and of itself, but it is not something a country not reflecting on the use of the atomic bombs while still possessing a large number of them should say. The hatred and emotional turmoil of the citizens toward the U.S. was not so slight. Can we tell those voiceless victims who died regrettable deaths that we’re involved in future-oriented thinking? True “reconciliation” exists beyond reflecting on what one did, an apology, compensation, consoling the spirits of the victims, and preventing the recurrence of such events. Now, A-bomb survivors living in South Korea are beginning to take action to hold the U.S. accountable. Hiroshima should take this seriously.

What should be done now?
In 1995, as Mayor of Hiroshima, I appeared in the International Court of Justice in The Hague, the Netherlands, which was examining the illegality of the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons, and I made a statement that was incompatible with the stand of the Japanese government. It is natural for a local government, which is responsible for the lives of its residents, and a state, which pursues national interests, be opposed to each other from time to time. First, Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui should raise objections against the Hiroshima Vision in his August 6 Peace Declaration and say, “The nation and Hiroshima are different.” Citizens’ interest and approach are essential. Their attitudes are also being put to test.

Takashi Hiraoka
Born in Osaka. Spent his boyhood in Seoul and moved to Hiroshima in September 1945. After graduating from Waseda University, he joined the Chugoku Shimbun. Served as editor-in-chief of the newspaper and president of RCC Broadcasting Company before becoming mayor of Hiroshima in 1991. Served two terms, or eight years, as mayor. Resident of Nishi Ward, Hiroshima.

Keywords

Pearl Harbor National Memorial
Consists of the wreckage of, and a memorial to the USS Arizona, which sank in the attack on Pearl Harbor, the remains of the USS Utah and others. In December 2016, after then U.S. President Barack Obama visited Hiroshima, then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited the USS Arizona Memorial. The late Sadako Sasaki’s paper crane was presented to the memorial, and the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Atomic Bomb and Peace Exhibition was held there in 2020.

(Originally published on June 26, 2023)