Hiroshima residents and visitors react with mixed feelings to news of Obama visit
May 12, 2016
The first sitting president of the United States, which dropped the atomic bombs on Japan, will soon visit Hiroshima, site of the first nuclear attack in human history. On May 11, the day following the official announcement that President Obama will visit this city, residents and tourists expressed both hopes and requests in the Peace Memorial Park in downtown Hiroshima. Their attention is on what the leader of the nuclear superpower will say and do during his historic visit.
“I’m really happy about it,” said Hiroaki Kojo, 53, an office worker in the nearby city of Kure. “It’s a historic event.” He was in the park to pray for the souls of his great-grandparents and grandfather, who all perished in the bombing, in front of the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims. He hopes that President Obama, who will step down next January, will pass on to the next president the strong will not to use nuclear weapons in the future.
Remi Shimada, 14, a third-year student at a Hiroshima junior high school, commutes through the park on her way to school. She hopes that Mr. Obama’s visit to Hiroshima will be a turning point in changing U.S. public opinion that the atomic bombs were necessary to bring the war to a quick end.
“This is great news,” said one American, 56, who was touring the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. He said that Americans should not forget the history of Hiroshima, and that Mr. Obama has the potential to convey the message of nuclear abolition around the world with his captivating style as a speaker.
On the other hand, Katarzyna Danuta Zielińska, 32, from Poland, shrugged and said that it would do no good for the president to come to Hiroshima, since he has continued to conduct nuclear tests and did not end the use of military force. She also wonders if he can present effective leadership just prior to the end of his presidency. Wang Yu Lin, 56, from Taiwan, said that he opposed nuclear weapons but also asked that Japan not forget its past as an aggressor in Asia.
Strong criticism was also leveled against President Obama. Tetsuhiro Kitakura, 71, a volunteer guide in the park and a resident of Minami Ward, spoke harshly about wanting Mr. Obama to offer an apology from the A-bombed city, and said, even today, he could not forgive the United States for its actions. His niece, he explained, was exposed to the bomb’s radiation while in her mother’s womb, and passed away of leukemia at the age of 27. Fujiko Imada, 82, a resident of Nishi Ward who experienced the atomic bombing as a fifth grader, said that scores of innocent people were killed, and that Mr. Obama’s visit would accomplish nothing if he does not offer consolation to the A-bomb dead.
(Originally published on May 12, 2016)
“I’m really happy about it,” said Hiroaki Kojo, 53, an office worker in the nearby city of Kure. “It’s a historic event.” He was in the park to pray for the souls of his great-grandparents and grandfather, who all perished in the bombing, in front of the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims. He hopes that President Obama, who will step down next January, will pass on to the next president the strong will not to use nuclear weapons in the future.
Remi Shimada, 14, a third-year student at a Hiroshima junior high school, commutes through the park on her way to school. She hopes that Mr. Obama’s visit to Hiroshima will be a turning point in changing U.S. public opinion that the atomic bombs were necessary to bring the war to a quick end.
“This is great news,” said one American, 56, who was touring the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. He said that Americans should not forget the history of Hiroshima, and that Mr. Obama has the potential to convey the message of nuclear abolition around the world with his captivating style as a speaker.
On the other hand, Katarzyna Danuta Zielińska, 32, from Poland, shrugged and said that it would do no good for the president to come to Hiroshima, since he has continued to conduct nuclear tests and did not end the use of military force. She also wonders if he can present effective leadership just prior to the end of his presidency. Wang Yu Lin, 56, from Taiwan, said that he opposed nuclear weapons but also asked that Japan not forget its past as an aggressor in Asia.
Strong criticism was also leveled against President Obama. Tetsuhiro Kitakura, 71, a volunteer guide in the park and a resident of Minami Ward, spoke harshly about wanting Mr. Obama to offer an apology from the A-bombed city, and said, even today, he could not forgive the United States for its actions. His niece, he explained, was exposed to the bomb’s radiation while in her mother’s womb, and passed away of leukemia at the age of 27. Fujiko Imada, 82, a resident of Nishi Ward who experienced the atomic bombing as a fifth grader, said that scores of innocent people were killed, and that Mr. Obama’s visit would accomplish nothing if he does not offer consolation to the A-bomb dead.
(Originally published on May 12, 2016)
