Icelandic President makes first visit to Hiroshima, saying she cannot comprehend possession of nuclear weapons
May 29, 2025
by Hiroaki Watanabe, Staff Writer
On May 28, Halla Tomasdottir, President of Iceland, a member state of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), visited Peace Memorial Museum in Hiroshima’s Naka Ward for the first time as Icelandic president. She learned about the reality of the atomic bombing through the exhibits in the museum. She said that after seeing the horrific devastation caused by the A-bombing, no one could possibly think they should possess nuclear weapons, and she could not comprehend it at all.
After laying a flower wreath at the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims, she toured the museum, with guidance from Yoshifumi Ishida, the museum’s director, and Keiko Ogura, 87, a Naka Ward resident, who was exposed to the A-bombing at the age of eight. In front of the White Panorama, which conveys via computer graphic image, how Hiroshima’s landscape was destroyed by the bombing, Tomasdottir held Ms. Ogura’s shoulders as she explained the reality.
At the press conference after visiting the museum, the president, her voice choked with emotion, said she did so because she felt happy that Ms. Ogura, a survivor of the tragedy, was there with her, but at the same time, she also felt deep sadness. She came to Japan for Expo 2025 Osaka and hoped to visit an A-bombed city. She stressed that nowhere else is the memory stronger of what must never happen again.
(Originally published on May 29, 2025)
On May 28, Halla Tomasdottir, President of Iceland, a member state of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), visited Peace Memorial Museum in Hiroshima’s Naka Ward for the first time as Icelandic president. She learned about the reality of the atomic bombing through the exhibits in the museum. She said that after seeing the horrific devastation caused by the A-bombing, no one could possibly think they should possess nuclear weapons, and she could not comprehend it at all.
After laying a flower wreath at the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims, she toured the museum, with guidance from Yoshifumi Ishida, the museum’s director, and Keiko Ogura, 87, a Naka Ward resident, who was exposed to the A-bombing at the age of eight. In front of the White Panorama, which conveys via computer graphic image, how Hiroshima’s landscape was destroyed by the bombing, Tomasdottir held Ms. Ogura’s shoulders as she explained the reality.
At the press conference after visiting the museum, the president, her voice choked with emotion, said she did so because she felt happy that Ms. Ogura, a survivor of the tragedy, was there with her, but at the same time, she also felt deep sadness. She came to Japan for Expo 2025 Osaka and hoped to visit an A-bombed city. She stressed that nowhere else is the memory stronger of what must never happen again.
(Originally published on May 29, 2025)
