French movie actor Alain Delon arrived in Hiroshima on October 31 at the invitation of Toyo Kogyo and toured the company’s Ujina Plant. The following morning Delon, 47, visited the Peace Memorial Museum and offered flowers at the memorial cenotaph.
Delon had expressed the desire to visit Peace Memorial Park while in Hiroshima. Mobbed by students on school excursions during his visit to the park, Delon offered flowers at the cenotaph and toured the museum guided by a representative of Toyo Kogyo. Delon, who looked carefully at each of the photos as well as the items that survived the bombing, kept repeating, “I’m speechless with shock.”
This was the actor’s first visit to Hiroshima. “For Westerners the name ‘Hiroshima’ is unlike that of any other city. Human beings have many wonderful talents, and I pray they will not repeat this tragedy,” he said. Delon ended his two-day visit to Hiroshima that afternoon and left for Tokyo.
(Note: Toyo Kogyo has since changed its name to Mazda.)