Commentary: President Obama’s visit to test Hiroshima’s resolve
May 11, 2016
by Kohei Okata, Staff Writer
U.S. President Barack Obama’s decision to visit Hiroshima will make him the first sitting American president to set foot in the A-bombed city. For the A-bomb survivors, government officials, and non-governmental stakeholders who have been calling for Mr. Obama to come to Hiroshima since he assumed the presidency in 2009, their wish will finally be realized in the 71st year since the atomic bombing. His visit, though, is but a stepping stone toward the larger goal of a world that is free of nuclear arms.
The people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have been calling for a visit by Mr. Obama because they want him to gain a firsthand grasp of the consequences that the use of nuclear weapons wreak upon cities and their inhabitants, and, as the leader of a nuclear superpower, take stronger action to advance the abolition of nuclear arms. The people of Hiroshima will coolly gauge Mr. Obama’s resolve through his every word and deed, his manner of speech, and the contents of the remarks he will make in front of the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.
Mr. Obama will leave office next January. For the upcoming presidential election that will decide his successor, to take place this November, the opposition party, the Republicans, will nominate a candidate who has made repugnant remarks about accepting a nuclear-armed Japan. In Asia, North Korea declared itself a nuclear weapon state at its Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea. And the government of Japan, the A-bombed nation, has yet to show any sign of withdrawing from the U.S. nuclear umbrella.
With Mr. Obama advocating a world without nuclear weapons, it is true that too much reliance has been placed upon this man to advance that aim. The visit to Hiroshima by the U.S. president will press the A-bombed city to shoulder more of the burden for realizing a nuclear-free world. Hiroshima’s resolve to fulfill this responsibility will be tested in the post-Obama era.
(Originally published on May 11, 2016)
U.S. President Barack Obama’s decision to visit Hiroshima will make him the first sitting American president to set foot in the A-bombed city. For the A-bomb survivors, government officials, and non-governmental stakeholders who have been calling for Mr. Obama to come to Hiroshima since he assumed the presidency in 2009, their wish will finally be realized in the 71st year since the atomic bombing. His visit, though, is but a stepping stone toward the larger goal of a world that is free of nuclear arms.
The people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have been calling for a visit by Mr. Obama because they want him to gain a firsthand grasp of the consequences that the use of nuclear weapons wreak upon cities and their inhabitants, and, as the leader of a nuclear superpower, take stronger action to advance the abolition of nuclear arms. The people of Hiroshima will coolly gauge Mr. Obama’s resolve through his every word and deed, his manner of speech, and the contents of the remarks he will make in front of the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.
Mr. Obama will leave office next January. For the upcoming presidential election that will decide his successor, to take place this November, the opposition party, the Republicans, will nominate a candidate who has made repugnant remarks about accepting a nuclear-armed Japan. In Asia, North Korea declared itself a nuclear weapon state at its Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea. And the government of Japan, the A-bombed nation, has yet to show any sign of withdrawing from the U.S. nuclear umbrella.
With Mr. Obama advocating a world without nuclear weapons, it is true that too much reliance has been placed upon this man to advance that aim. The visit to Hiroshima by the U.S. president will press the A-bombed city to shoulder more of the burden for realizing a nuclear-free world. Hiroshima’s resolve to fulfill this responsibility will be tested in the post-Obama era.
(Originally published on May 11, 2016)
