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Hiroshima, Nagasaki mayors to call for visit by U.S. President Barack Obama

by Osamu Kido, Staff Writer

On November 14, Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui and Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue will visit the American Embassy in Japan, located in Minato Ward, Tokyo, to call for U.S. President Barack Obama, who has won reelection, to visit the A-bombed cities. It will be the first time that the Hiroshima and Nagasaki mayors have made a joint request for the president’s visit since October 2009.

They plan to offer their congratulations on Mr. Obama’s reelection and submit a letter requesting that the president pay visits to both cities. John Roos, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, will meet with the mayors.

Speaking in Prague, the Czech Republic in April 2009, Mr. Obama called for the realization of a world without nuclear weapons. In November of that year, he visited Japan for the first time as president. At a press conference then, he remarked, “I would be honored to have the opportunity to visit those cities at some point during my presidency."

Against the backdrop of deep-seated support for the atomic bombings among the American public, however, the outlook for realizing a visit by the U.S. president seems bleak.

In October 2009, the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki made requests to the U.S. embassy and other embassies in Tokyo for the leaders of nuclear weapon states to visit the A-bombed cities. Taking the opportunity of President Obama’s reelection, the cities have decided to once again make this request.

(Originally published on November 13, 2012)

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