Patti Smith visits Hiroshima, talks with atomic bomb survivor
Apr. 29, 2025
Nuclear weapons would only lead to destruction
by Kana Kobayashi, Staff Writer
American singer-songwriter and poet Patti Smith visited Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima’s Naka Ward on April 28. After offering flowers at the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims, she had a dialogue with Keiko Ogura, 87, an atomic bomb survivor from the city’s Naka Ward. In front of an audience of about 250 people, Ms. Smith stressed nuclear weapons would only lead to destruction.
Ms. Smith also visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. She attended a gathering co-hosted by the Hiroshima Interpreters for Peace and other citizen groups in the Memorial Hall on the first basement floor of the museum’s east building.
During her dialogue with Ms. Ogura, she shared memories of her father, who taught her about the inhumanity of the atomic bomb. She also said we cannot stop mourning the victims, and stressed the need to educate young people and government officials for a world without nuclear weapons. She also read out the lyrics of her song “People Have the Power.”
Ms. Smith is a world-renowned artist, active since the 1970s. In 2016, she sang at a Nobel Prize award ceremony on behalf of Bob Dylan, who was not present to accept his prize in literature. She is now on a performance tour of Japan.
(Originally published on April 29, 2025)
