Hiroshima A-bomb ceremony "enlightening" for foreign visitors
Craig Whitehead, an Australian on his third visit to Hiroshima, attended the ceremony for the first time. He said the experience was "enlightening."
While the 51-year-old remembers learning about the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in school, the focus was on the Australian and American side.
"It is nice to get a wider perspective of the history around what happened, but also a reminder about how close we are to it happening again," said Whitehead. "Even that word 'hibakusha,' I just learned that today."
The ceremony was attended by around 55,000 people, including officials from a record 120 nations and regions, according to the city.
Some visitors came by chance but found the experience equally meaningful. Luca Milan, a 24-year-old student from Italy, said he only realized the ceremony was taking place when he tried to book a visit to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum for Wednesday morning and found it was closed.
Milan said he learned of the bombings from his grandfather, who fought in World War II, during which Italy was for a time allied with Japan and Germany as part of the Axis powers. While he watched the ceremony on a large screen from outside the official seating area, he praised its succinctness and said it was "beautiful."
Meanwhile, Raj Mody, a Canadian who attended the ceremony as part of a group organized by the Heiwa Peace and Reconciliation Foundation of New York Ltd., said he felt the museum was more "illuminating" than the ceremony itself.
Still, the 63-year-old Canadian acknowledged the value of the event, saying schools all over the world should view a live telecast of the ceremony every year because "the young are the future."
While all noted that the current geopolitical environment makes the abolition of nuclear arms an unrealistic goal, they voiced hopes that the annual memorial ceremony would make leaders think seriously about using weapons of mass destruction.
Even when all survivors are gone, "indefinitely, we should continue (this ceremony) until people realize how nasty nuclear weapons can be," Mody said.
"Keep going," Whitehead agreed. "Keep going for as long as they have to, because it keeps that memory in their mind about what the devastation is like, not just on that particular day, but in the long term."
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The Mainichi
3 hours ago
- The Mainichi
The grandchildren of 2 men who experienced both A-bomb attacks 80 years ago now work for peace
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He has since met many survivors and is eager to hear their stories. "Before, I think that we all believed in the same justifications. I can't justify it anymore," Ari Beser said about the bombings. "For me, all I focus on is trying to convey it to people so that it doesn't happen again." Because his grandfather was on both B-29s, Ari Beser was always interested in meeting a double survivor. That led him to Harada's family 12 years ago. "It's passing the baton and it's leaving the record. ... We are the keepers of memory," Ari Beser said. He was young when his grandfather died and never got to talk with him about the bombings. "I also want to interview him or just want to ask him so many questions" and find out if there were other options besides dropping the bomb. Despite language difficulties, the two grandchildren keep communicating and working together on projects, including a book about their grandfathers. 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Japan Today
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Image: きんとも/Pixta The peace park also features multiple memorial structures. Perhaps the most famous is the Cornerstone of Peace, a stone monument that bears the names of everyone who died in the Battle of Okinawa regardless of nationality or whether they were military personnel or civilians. For some battle survivors, these engraved names are their only connection to departed loved ones. Many people's remains have yet to be recovered. Okinawa's Naha International Airport is accessible by domestic flights from Hiroshima Airport. Shuttle buses offer airport access from Hiroshima station. Gifu's lifesaving diplomat and Nagasaki's 'saint' One highlight of the Chiune Sugihara Memorial Hall is a recreation of the consulate office where Sugihara wrote visas for refugees. Image: Monami/Wikimedia Commons-CC BY-SA 3.0 In 1939, diplomat Chiune Sugihara was assigned to the country of Lithuania. Soon after, Jewish refugees gathered outside Sugihara's consulate. 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The Mainichi
18 hours ago
- The Mainichi
East Japan town forgets to air siren for prayers for Hiroshima A-bomb victims
YOKOHAMA -- The Yugawara town office in Kanagawa Prefecture failed to sound a siren at the stroke of 8:15 a.m. on Aug. 6 to coincide with the time the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima 80 years ago, the Mainichi Shimbun has learned. The town will investigate the exact cause of the mishap and strive to prevent a recurrence, officials said. According to the town's community policy division, every year at 8:15 a.m. on Aug. 6, the town had played a one-minute siren via its broadcast speakers to urge residents to observe a moment of silence to remember those who died in the 1945 atomic bombing. The town also used to broadcast a heads-up about the siren at 7:30 a.m. each time. This year, however, an official in charge apparently forgot to set the machine for the broadcasts. "We believe there was no similar mistakes in the past. We will investigate the cause and take measures to prevent a recurrence," the division told the Mainichi. A 75-year-old man who has lived in the town for over 20 years said he offers a silent prayer every year on Aug. 6 upon hearing the siren. "For the town to forget the broadcast in this critical year, which marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, is disrespectful and rude to those who perished in the atomic bombing," he fumed. He added that the incident appears to reflect the trends of society today, where the memory of the war is fading. "An incident like this is a reminder that the atmosphere of society as a whole may be changing little by little," he commented.
