Latest news with #HiroshimaPeaceMemorialMuseum
13-05-2025
- General
Replicas of Nobel Prize Medal, Diploma Displayed in Hiroshima
News from Japan Society May 13, 2025 22:10 (JST) Hiroshima, May 13 (Jiji Press)--The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum on Tuesday opened an exhibition of replicas of a Nobel Peace Prize medal and a diploma that hibakusha atomic bomb survivor group Nihon Hidankyo received in December last year. "I would like (visitors) to feel that the world must be at peace," Toshiyuki Mimaki, 83, a co-chairperson of the group, officially called the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, said after seeing the exhibits. The replicas will be displayed in a free panel exhibition commemorating Hidankyo's winning of the Nobel Peace Prize on the first floor of the museum in Hiroshima, western Japan, until Aug. 31. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.] Jiji Press
Japan Times
29-04-2025
- General
- Japan Times
Items of an A-bomb victim who died the day he enlisted to be displayed
The personal belongings of a man who died at age 26 in the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima on the same day he joined the now-defunct Imperial Japanese military will be displayed at a relative's home from Tuesday. Michiko Takagaki, 79, decided to display the belongings of Takayoshi Tatara as this year marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. "We have a responsibility as people who have survived until today," Takagaki said. "I had to do something." At 8 a.m. on Aug. 6, 1945, Tatara enlisted in a regional artillery replacement unit based in the city. Just 15 minutes later, an atomic bomb was dropped some 700 meters away. Tatara went missing in the aftermath of the bombing, but it was learned after the end of the war that he had temporarily sought refuge with severe burns from head to toe. His personal items were delivered to his relatives via the local government. Tatara's wife, 1-year-old daughter, father and older brother, who all had gathered to see him off, are believed to have been killed in the atomic bombing. None of their remains have been found, despite numerous search efforts by relatives. Takagaki, whose late husband, Tomomitsu, was a nephew of Tatara, will showcase Tatara's personal items for the first time at her home in the city of Fuchu, Hiroshima Prefecture, until May 18. The 40 or so items, which include a wristwatch and a notebook that Tatara is believed to have carried at the time, as well as a public notice calling him to the military, will then be donated mainly to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. Takagaki had heard stories about Tatara from her late husband, but she was reluctant to share them with others. "It's not something that I can talk about easily," she said. But as she grew older, Takagaki decided to put Tatara's items on display while she still had the chance. "I wonder what things would've been like if (Tatara) had enlisted a day later," she said. "I hope people pick up his personal items and think about a life that was taken too early."
25-04-2025
- General
Denmark King Visits Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park
News from Japan Society Apr 25, 2025 18:43 (JST) Hiroshima, April 25 (Jiji Press)--Denmark's King Frederik X on Friday visited Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and laid flowers at the cenotaph for the victims of the 1945 atomic bombing of the western Japan city. It was his second visit to the park, the first being in 1987 as crown prince. The king received a briefing on the park from Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui and visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. 'My deepest sympathy to the victims of the tragedy that befell Hiroshima and Nagasaki 80 years ago. I hope, trust, and believe that the wisdom of humanity ensures that such a tragedy is never repeated,' he wrote in a visitor's book. He also inspected the Atomic Bomb Dome. [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.] Jiji Press
Japan Times
21-04-2025
- Politics
- Japan Times
The ambiguity of Japan's message on nuclear weapons
When Nihon Hidankyo, an organization bringing together the victims of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, won the Nobel Peace Prize last year, all of Japan celebrated. Politicians also applauded the group — but that did not insulate the government from criticism for not attending a recent United Nations meeting on a nuclear weapons ban, as well as others before it. Tokyo's (in)action can be explained by the fact that it holds a dual position: It supports further nuclear disarmament while also being in favor of the United States' nuclear umbrella, which it relies on for its security. This highlights some of the contradictions in Japanese discourse on the issue, most notably, the absence, in my view, of a significant debate on the key question of nuclear deterrence versus abolition. No one claims any of this is easy. Most people would like to live in a world without nuclear weapons, but as long as even a single country has them, others will feel compelled to do the same. Since 1945, this system seems to have largely worked given the absence of a direct war between major powers. If one talks to a hibakusha survivor, as I have, their personal experiences of mutilation, pain, losing relatives and friends and suffering in later life bring home the enormity of nuclear armaments' human — or inhumane — costs. Yet the ambiguities of today's nuclear architecture are on vivid display in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. Beyond the clear notion that nuclear weapons are abhorrent and have no place in a civilized society, if one takes a step back, the museum's message is ambiguous in the way it entangles anti-war and anti-nuclear sentiments. Are these positions not contradictory if nuclear deterrence actually works to preserve the peace? This inconsistency may stem from the fact that the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings are Japan's most salient collective memories of World War II. After the conflict, the gravitas of these events was the only thing that the political left and right in Japan could agree upon — the right because it wanted to deflect blame for the war, the left because it hated American anti-communist and national security policies. This narrative also served to emphasize Japan's victimhood for both foreign and domestic political purposes. Given this background, the Japanese public naturally opposes nuclear weapons and war. A substantial minority can even be called pacifists, believing in Article 9 of the Constitution, which forbids Japan from ever going to war or having an army, either literally or at least in spirit. For reasons to do with Japan's postwar political history, this has not prevented the country from having a military and being defended by the U.S. This contradiction becomes even more salient when one considers that Japan, a bastion of anti-nuclear sentiment, is protected by its ally's nuclear umbrella, a fact that almost no one ever complains about and most people support, with little reference to its function as a deterrent. Even the growing perceived threat posed by China and North Korea has not lifted the lid on this ambiguity, but rather intensified it. There is little insightful public discussion in much of the media of the major questions at the heart of the issue: Does deterrence work or does possessing atomic armaments increase the threat of nuclear war, whether intentional or accidental? If both, how do we control those risks? These are the issues that must be examined. Ironically, an hour and a half from Hiroshima, there is a small island that in some ways is an almost unknown testament to how deterrence might work: Okunoshima, known as 'Bunny Island' for the feral rabbits that roam it. This was a hub for Japan's chemical weapons manufacturing from the 1920s to the end of the Pacific War, kept top secret by the military government and even removed from maps of the time. Chemical weapons — produced in such great quantities that they would have been capable of wiping out all of central Tokyo's inhabitants today — were used during Japan's war against the Chinese, causing the deaths of up to an estimated 80,000 people (and some unexploded canisters still kill people today). Why, after it became clear that Japan was losing the Pacific War and its survival was at stake, did Tokyo not use them against the Americans in the horrendous battles for the islands in the Pacific? Because the U.S. had secretly warned Japan that it had more chemical weapons and if they were used against its troops, Washington would retaliate in kind. While possession of chemical weapons alone did not prevent the war, it did deter the use of such brutal methods in conflict, stopping a barbaric escalation. Does this story mirror that of today's system of nuclear deterrence? Or are growing warnings as to the risks of atomic war — given Russian President Vladimir Putin's threats to this effect — a reminder that only disarmament leads to peace? I don't know, and no one really does. Likewise, we don't know whether a universal ban on nuclear weapons would prevent their use or if it would be ignored by countries in the throes of conflict. But the point is that these vital questions don't receive enough attention in Japan. Realistically, the discussion should center on whether deterrence works and, if so, how to regulate possession of nuclear weapons to avoid their accidental or intentional use. Making this an issue of either possession or disarmament is simplistic, naive and unhelpful. It is almost as if many in Japan believe that merely getting the word out about the horrors of nuclear war is enough to prevent it. Let's hope they are right, but I doubt it. Ellis S. Krauss is professor emeritus at the School of Global Policy and Strategy, University of California, San Diego.
Japan Times
09-03-2025
- Politics
- Japan Times
Italian president lays flowers at Hiroshima Peace Park
Hiroshima – Italian President Sergio Mattarella visited Hiroshima on Saturday where he laid flowers at the cenotaph for the victims of the 1945 atomic bombing in Peace Memorial Park. It marked his first visit to the city. The president observed a moment of silent in front of the cenotaph and then toured the park, accompanied by Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui. He also signed an entry at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum within the park. Later in the day, Mattarella met with people including Hiroshima Gov. Hidehiko Yuzaki and Toshiyuki Mimaki, 82, co-chair of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, also known as Nihon Hidankyo, which won the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize. The president congratulated Mimaki and others on the group's Nobel win, praising their work for consistently sounding a stern alarm for humanity and emphasizing his strong belief that nuclear weapons must never be used again. "I realized that (the president) has the same idea (about nuclear disarmament) with us," Mimaki told reporters after the meeting. "We would like him to continue to work (for nuclear disarmament)."
