A-bomb exhibition to be held in Chicago, President Obama’s hometown, in October
Jun. 21, 2016
by Kyosuke Mizukawa, Staff Writer
The cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki will hold the “Hiroshima-Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Exhibition” in Chicago, Illinois in October. The city of Chicago is U.S. President Barack Obama’s hometown. Hoping to fuel the momentum felt by President Obama’s visit to Hiroshima in May, the A-bombed cities are holding the exhibition to elicit the understanding of the American people with regard to the inhumane consequences wrought by nuclear weapons and strengthen their desire for a world without nuclear arms.
The exhibition, which had already been planned from the previous fiscal year, will take place at Chicago’s Japanese Culture Center from October 1 to 30. About 20 A-bomb artifacts will go on display, including a water bottle which had belonged to a student killed in the atomic bombing and paper cranes that were folded by Sadako Sasaki. Sadako was a Japanese girl who died of A-bomb-induced leukemia at the age of 12, 10 years after the bombing. She folded the origami cranes with the hope that this would enable her to recover from her illness. During the run of the exhibition, an A-bomb survivor will visit and offer a personal account of the atomic bombing, and there will be another session where the personal notes of a survivor are read out. The exhibition will also offer a space where visitors can try their hand at folding paper cranes.
President Obama was a state senator of Illinois from 1997 to 2004, the state where he had worked as a lawyer. He was then elected to serve as a U.S. senator from Illinois. In October 2007, after announcing that he would run for president, he made his first mention of ridding the world of nuclear weapons in a speech he gave at DePaul University in Chicago. At the time, the university was set to open an A-bomb exhibition hosted by the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. To deliver his speech, Mr. Obama reportedly walked through the passageway where photo panels of the A-bombed cities were being displayed.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki chose Chicago as one of the venues for the A-bomb exhibition they have toured to major cities in the United States to mark last year’s 70th anniversary of the atomic bombings.
When President Obama visited Hiroshima on May 27, his visit to the Peace Memorial Museum lasted only 10 minutes and he did not listen to an account from an A-bomb survivor. A staff member of the museum’s Outreach Division said, “We want to draw more attention to the A-bombed cities by holding the exhibition in President Obama’s hometown. We hope the president will visit the exhibition in person to learn more about the devastation caused by the atomic bombings and encourage other American citizens to visit the exhibition.”
(Originally published on June 21, 2016)
The cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki will hold the “Hiroshima-Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Exhibition” in Chicago, Illinois in October. The city of Chicago is U.S. President Barack Obama’s hometown. Hoping to fuel the momentum felt by President Obama’s visit to Hiroshima in May, the A-bombed cities are holding the exhibition to elicit the understanding of the American people with regard to the inhumane consequences wrought by nuclear weapons and strengthen their desire for a world without nuclear arms.
The exhibition, which had already been planned from the previous fiscal year, will take place at Chicago’s Japanese Culture Center from October 1 to 30. About 20 A-bomb artifacts will go on display, including a water bottle which had belonged to a student killed in the atomic bombing and paper cranes that were folded by Sadako Sasaki. Sadako was a Japanese girl who died of A-bomb-induced leukemia at the age of 12, 10 years after the bombing. She folded the origami cranes with the hope that this would enable her to recover from her illness. During the run of the exhibition, an A-bomb survivor will visit and offer a personal account of the atomic bombing, and there will be another session where the personal notes of a survivor are read out. The exhibition will also offer a space where visitors can try their hand at folding paper cranes.
President Obama was a state senator of Illinois from 1997 to 2004, the state where he had worked as a lawyer. He was then elected to serve as a U.S. senator from Illinois. In October 2007, after announcing that he would run for president, he made his first mention of ridding the world of nuclear weapons in a speech he gave at DePaul University in Chicago. At the time, the university was set to open an A-bomb exhibition hosted by the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. To deliver his speech, Mr. Obama reportedly walked through the passageway where photo panels of the A-bombed cities were being displayed.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki chose Chicago as one of the venues for the A-bomb exhibition they have toured to major cities in the United States to mark last year’s 70th anniversary of the atomic bombings.
When President Obama visited Hiroshima on May 27, his visit to the Peace Memorial Museum lasted only 10 minutes and he did not listen to an account from an A-bomb survivor. A staff member of the museum’s Outreach Division said, “We want to draw more attention to the A-bombed cities by holding the exhibition in President Obama’s hometown. We hope the president will visit the exhibition in person to learn more about the devastation caused by the atomic bombings and encourage other American citizens to visit the exhibition.”
(Originally published on June 21, 2016)
