Hiroshima City postpones summer Pearl Harbor A-bomb exhibit until later in 2020
May 30, 2020
by Junji Akechi, Staff Writer
The Hiroshima City government announced on May 29 that it would postpone the first-ever A-bomb exhibit scheduled to be held at Pearl Harbor, in the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is the location marking the start of fighting in the Pacific theater of World War II. The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum (Naka Ward) had originally planned to hold the exhibit at the Battleship Missouri Memorial in Honolulu from early July to September 3. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the city was forced to cancel the original plan and is now making arrangements to hold the exhibit later in 2020, based on the assumption that the situation surrounding the coronavirus spread in Hawaii will have eased by then.
According to Hiroshima City, both Hiroshima and Nagasaki city governments had jointly planned to exhibit A-bomb artifacts and photographic panels, as well as have A-bomb survivors share their A-bombing experiences. However, because the Battleship Missouri Memorial is temporarily closed to prevent further spread of the coronavirus, Hiroshima City decided it would be prudent to postpone the July exhibit.
Hiroshima City is for now also planning to hold an A-bomb exhibit at the University of Hawaii at Hilo from mid-September to late October. Whether that exhibit date will also be delayed depends on the timing of the exhibit at the Battleship Missouri Memorial.
The USS Missouri is the U.S. battleship on which Japanese representatives formally signed the Instrument of Surrender after conclusion of its involvement in World War II. At present, the ship is docked at Pearl Harbor and used as a memorial. In the United States, there are some who justify the dropping of the atomic bombs by citing the Imperial Japanese Army’s attack on Pearl Harbor. A Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum official said, “We will definitely make an opportunity for visitors to the Battleship Missouri Memorial exhibit to learn about the reality of the destruction that resulted from the atomic bombings.”
Other A-bomb exhibits—scheduled to be held between mid-July and early September in Bunkyo Ward and Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, as well as Hanno City, Saitama Prefecture—were also postponed for one year, in keeping with the timing of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games. A Hiroshima City official in charge of A-bomb experience preservation says, “We would like to hold the exhibits at a time when there are as many people as possible visiting Tokyo, even if such events do not coincide exactly with the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombings.”
(Originally published on May 30, 2020)
The Hiroshima City government announced on May 29 that it would postpone the first-ever A-bomb exhibit scheduled to be held at Pearl Harbor, in the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is the location marking the start of fighting in the Pacific theater of World War II. The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum (Naka Ward) had originally planned to hold the exhibit at the Battleship Missouri Memorial in Honolulu from early July to September 3. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the city was forced to cancel the original plan and is now making arrangements to hold the exhibit later in 2020, based on the assumption that the situation surrounding the coronavirus spread in Hawaii will have eased by then.
According to Hiroshima City, both Hiroshima and Nagasaki city governments had jointly planned to exhibit A-bomb artifacts and photographic panels, as well as have A-bomb survivors share their A-bombing experiences. However, because the Battleship Missouri Memorial is temporarily closed to prevent further spread of the coronavirus, Hiroshima City decided it would be prudent to postpone the July exhibit.
Hiroshima City is for now also planning to hold an A-bomb exhibit at the University of Hawaii at Hilo from mid-September to late October. Whether that exhibit date will also be delayed depends on the timing of the exhibit at the Battleship Missouri Memorial.
The USS Missouri is the U.S. battleship on which Japanese representatives formally signed the Instrument of Surrender after conclusion of its involvement in World War II. At present, the ship is docked at Pearl Harbor and used as a memorial. In the United States, there are some who justify the dropping of the atomic bombs by citing the Imperial Japanese Army’s attack on Pearl Harbor. A Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum official said, “We will definitely make an opportunity for visitors to the Battleship Missouri Memorial exhibit to learn about the reality of the destruction that resulted from the atomic bombings.”
Other A-bomb exhibits—scheduled to be held between mid-July and early September in Bunkyo Ward and Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, as well as Hanno City, Saitama Prefecture—were also postponed for one year, in keeping with the timing of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games. A Hiroshima City official in charge of A-bomb experience preservation says, “We would like to hold the exhibits at a time when there are as many people as possible visiting Tokyo, even if such events do not coincide exactly with the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombings.”
(Originally published on May 30, 2020)
