Kerry visits Hiroshima memorial 7 decades after A-bomb

[webfact]

Kerry visits Hiroshima memorial 7 decades after A-bomb
BRADLEY KLAPPER, Associated Press

HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visited the revered memorial to Hiroshima's atomic bombing on Monday, delivering a message of peace and hope for a nuclear-free world seven decades after United States used the weapon for the first time in history.

Kerry became the most senior American official ever to visit the site, touring the city's Peace Memorial Park and Museum with other foreign ministers of the Group of Seven industrialized nations. Some 140,000 Japanese died in the attack in the final days of World War II.

Shortly before the scheduled event, Kerry called it "a moment that I hope will underscore to the world the importance of peace and the importance of strong allies working together to make the world safer and, ultimately, we hope to be able to rid the world of weapons of mass destruction."

"And while we will revisit the past and honor those who perished, this trip is not about the past," Kerry told Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, a Hiroshima native. "It's about the present and the future particularly, and the strength of the relationship that we have built, the friendship that we share, the strength of our alliance and the strong reminder of the imperative we all have to work for peace for peoples everywhere."

Kerry's appearance just footsteps away from Ground Zero further marks an evolution for the United States, whose leaders avoided the city for many years because of political sensitivities.

No serving U.S. president has visited the site, and it took 65 years for a U.S. ambassador to attend the city's annual memorial service. Many Americans believe the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, and the Japanese city of Nagasaki three days later were justified and hastened the end of the war.

Nevertheless, Japanese survivors' groups have campaigned for decades to bring leaders from the U.S. and other nuclear weapon states to see Hiroshima's scars as part of a grassroots movement to abolish nuclear weapons. And they've never pressed for an apology from the United States.

A senior U.S. official traveling with Kerry said the top American diplomat wouldn't say sorry. But he said Kerry would express the sorrow that all feel upon reflection about the bombing and use the occasion to promote President Barack Obama's vision of nuclear disarmament. The official wasn't authorized to be quoted by name on Kerry's plans and demanded anonymity.

Obama himself may travel to city next month.

The official said the president has yet to decide whether he might visit Hiroshima and the memorial when he attends a Group of Seven meeting of leaders in central Japan in late May, according to the official. During his first year in office, Obama said he would be "honored" to do so.

As Kerry toured the museum, some 800 schoolchildren waited for him at a cenotaph monument in the middle of the adjoining park. They held flags of the G7 nations, including the United States.

The museum includes harrowing images of the destruction and shocking exhibits, including the torn clothing of children who perished and skin, fingernails, deformed tongues and other horrible examples of the exposure to the blast and its residual radiation.

Some explanations mounted on the wall, however, don't align with the views of all historians and experts in the United States or elsewhere. For example, one suggests that the U.S. used the weapon in part to justify the extraordinary costs of the Manhattan Project to develop it. Disagreements over motivations and possible justification rage among historians, ethicists and others to this day.


-- (c) Associated Press 2016-04-11

[Credo]

I wonder if Kerry will have time to visit the site of Fukhusima nuclear disaster.

[Grouse]

The War was already won

BUT the bombs finished it quickly and saved lives so I still think it was the correct decision.

However, it also helped give the USA global hegemony and kept the USSR down

Astonishing no president has visited IMHO

[Basil B]

Some people think the Americans should apologise...

Maybe if Japan were to be more truthful in teaching of history they would understand it is not the Americans who should be apologising first.

[bark]

Seventy years later and people are still dying from Cancer. Hope we ( The World) never drop another one !

[eliotness]

Maybe someone should ask the Allies POWs how they felt about the bomb !

[Chicog]

I think it would have added some humour if he'd turned up in an NBC suit.

[Baerboxer]

Some people think the Americans should apologise...

Maybe if Japan were to be more truthful in teaching of history they would understand it is not the Americans who should be apologising first.

Wonder if the Japanese PM and/or Emperor will visit the Death Railway graves in Thailand and apologize?

Thousands of POW's deliberately treated as slave labor, deliberately starved and deprived of medicines, their Red Cross parcels stolen from them, regularly beaten and brutalized?

Will Japan ever recognize their actions, criminality and apologize?

Or perhaps their criminal rape of Nanjing, where thousands of civilians were raped and butchered as the Japanese forces went on a looting, raping and killing frenzy that even shocked resident German Nazis?

Or perhaps the extra judicial executions of thousands of ethnic Chinese in Singapore - just because they were Chinese?

Japan has been allowed to live in denial to save face - an insult to all those who suffered and were murdered in the name of Imperial Japan.

Shame the bomb wasn't available earlier in the War so more lives could have been saved.

[eliotness]

Actually the "bomb" was developed to counter the belief the Nazis were close to producing a nuclear weapon, which in hindsight they were way behind, thank God. However, without the 2 bombs the death toll to achieve a Japanese surrender would have been horrific.

[chuckd]

I read recently that Obama is planning a visit to Hiroshima later this year.

Probably planning an apology tour to dust off his Nobel Peace Prize.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/03/24/national/politics-diplomacy/rumored-u-s-presidential-visit-hiroshima-nagasaki-stokes-mixed-reactions/#.Vwu8l5yGMrh

Anybody remember these little incidents?

Edited April 11, 2016 by chuckd

[Chicog]

Oh Chuck, don't go down that road, it's pointless and silly.

Simply following protocols.

I wouldn't lower my head to the pope in a million years unless it was to put the nut on him.

Edited April 11, 2016 by Chicog

[Srikcir]

To be fair the japanese should build a WWII memorial to the murdered 3,000,000 to over 10,000,000 people including Chinese, Indonesians, Koreans, Filipinos, and Indochinese, including Western prisoners of war.

[Basil B]

Correct...

The USA, Britain, Australia, New Zeeland, Canada and South Africa fall well down the list when it comes to countries that Japan should be apologising to.

[Jingthing]

Nothing wrong with Obama visiting and I hope that he does.

It's about recognizing the horrific power of nuclear weapons.

No, he shouldn't apologize and he won't.

[Kiwiken]

To be fair the japanese should build a WWII memorial to the murdered 3,000,000 to over 10,000,000 people including Chinese, Indonesians, Koreans, Filipinos, and Indochinese, including Western prisoners of war.

The Atomic Bombs used were the most horrific weapons used to date in Warfare. I pray that they are never used again or chemical and biological warfare. For over 50 years I have studied the world wars. And I come to the conclusion the dropping of the bombs as horrific and barbaric as it may seem. Probably saved the lives of some 2 plus million Allied servicemen and perhaps up to 20-30 million Japanese. Many Of Our generation would probably not be here to reflect 71 years after the fact. Whether the two bombs stopped the war is academic but that it could not continue was made absolute.

[kamahele]

I read recently that Obama is planning a visit to Hiroshima later this year.

Probably planning an apology tour to dust off his Nobel Peace Prize.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/03/24/national/politics-diplomacy/rumored-u-s-presidential-visit-hiroshima-nagasaki-stokes-mixed-reactions/#.Vwu8l5yGMrh

Anybody remember these little incidents?

People in Japan, bow to each other. That is the custom which should be followed by those visiting the country.

[Pimay1]

Seventy years later and people are still dying from Cancer. Hope we ( The World) never drop another one !

I hope we never HAVE to drop another one.

[chuckd]

I read recently that Obama is planning a visit to Hiroshima later this year.

Probably planning an apology tour to dust off his Nobel Peace Prize.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/03/24/national/politics-diplomacy/rumored-u-s-presidential-visit-hiroshima-nagasaki-stokes-mixed-reactions/#.Vwu8l5yGMrh

Anybody remember these little incidents?

People in Japan, bow to each other. That is the custom which should be followed by those visiting the country.

The President of the United States bows to nobody. End of story.

[NumbNut]

I read recently that Obama is planning a visit to Hiroshima later this year.

Probably planning an apology tour to dust off his Nobel Peace Prize.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/03/24/national/politics-diplomacy/rumored-u-s-presidential-visit-hiroshima-nagasaki-stokes-mixed-reactions/#.Vwu8l5yGMrh

Anybody remember these little incidents?

People in Japan, bow to each other. That is the custom which should be followed by those visiting the country.

The President of the United States bows to nobody. End of story.

Yeah that's right <removed>, 'When in Rome' doesn't apply to Americans eh. Why?

Because AMERICAN!

[shagorillaHotel]

you too can be a hypocrite for an hour

(From L to R) France's Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, Italy's Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni, Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Japan's Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Britain's Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, Canada's Foreign Minister Stephane Dion and E.U. High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini carry wreath to offer in front of the cenotaph at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima on April 11, 2016. G7 foreign ministers met in Hiroshima from Sunday to Monday as the first of a series of ministerial talks ahead of the G7 summit to be held in Mie Prefecture in May.(Xinhua/POOL)

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-04/11/c_135269017.htm

[Grouse]

I read recently that Obama is planning a visit to Hiroshima later this year.

Probably planning an apology tour to dust off his Nobel Peace Prize.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/03/24/national/politics-diplomacy/rumored-u-s-presidential-visit-hiroshima-nagasaki-stokes-mixed-reactions/#.Vwu8l5yGMrh

Anybody remember these little incidents?

People in Japan, bow to each other. That is the custom which should be followed by those visiting the country.

The President of the United States bows to nobody. End of story.

Lack of cross cultural knowledge often gets you people in to trouble. Bowing is normal behaviour in Japan. The angle of the bow is important

[chuckd]

Bow all you guys want to.

If you feel your PM, Queen or King should do so, that's your problem and I couldn't care less.

When you become the US President you don't have to bow to anyone and, IMHO, most Americans will have the same feeling about it.

Now let's get back to those heady stories about which toilets should be in use.

Edited April 12, 2016 by chuckd

[Kiwiken]

Bow all you guys want to.

If you feel your PM, Queen or King should do so, that's your problem and I couldn't care less.

When you become the US President you don't have to bow to anyone and, IMHO, most Americans will have the same feeling about it.

Now let's get back to those heady stories about which toilets should be in use.

Showing Political correctness and Diplomacy goes a lot further than National Arrogance. As a kiwi I have to bow to no one either but do believe to be polite I get a hell of a lot further than those who think they have God like status......

[stillbornagain]

Some people think the Americans should apologise...

Maybe if Japan were to be more truthful in teaching of history they would understand it is not the Americans who should be apologising first.

Wonder if the Japanese PM and/or Emperor will visit the Death Railway graves in Thailand and apologize?

Thousands of POW's deliberately treated as slave labor, deliberately starved and deprived of medicines, their Red Cross parcels stolen from them, regularly beaten and brutalized?

Will Japan ever recognize their actions, criminality and apologize?

Or perhaps their criminal rape of Nanjing, where thousands of civilians were raped and butchered as the Japanese forces went on a looting, raping and killing frenzy that even shocked resident German Nazis?

Or perhaps the extra judicial executions of thousands of ethnic Chinese in Singapore - just because they were Chinese?

Japan has been allowed to live in denial to save face - an insult to all those who suffered and were murdered in the name of Imperial Japan.

Shame the bomb wasn't available earlier in the War so more lives could have been saved.

Japan wasn't allowed denial to save face. It was allowed denial so that the power structure could remain intact and be enlisted to fight Communism.

[stillbornagain]

Bow all you guys want to.

If you feel your PM, Queen or King should do so, that's your problem and I couldn't care less.

When you become the US President you don't have to bow to anyone and, IMHO, most Americans will have the same feeling about it.

Now let's get back to those heady stories about which toilets should be in use.

And you guys can also wai all you want to. If Thais don't want to shake hands with me. screw 'em.