He will head to the city on Friday after attending the G7 Summit.
70 years after the ghastly bomb was dropped in Hiroshima by USA, during the World War II, serving US President Obama of the United States will be visiting the reborn city on Friday.
This is the first trip of this kind by an American President in office. However, the President has made it clear that he won’t be apologizing for the bombing, but will be commemorating those who lost their lives during World War II.
He spoke to the Japanese media and commented that this visit can have the potential to portray how “even former adversaries can become the strongest of allies”.
President Obama told Asahi newspaper, “Hiroshima reminds us that war, no matter the cause or countries involved, results in tremendous suffering and loss, especially for innocent civilians.”
The atomic bomb that ravaged through Hiroshima on August 6th, 1945, left nearly 140,000 dead and another bomb that charred the city of Nagasaki left 74,000 dead.
The repercussions, both immediate and long-term have been immense, with problems like having to rejuvenate an entire city and the constant threat to health due to radiation being the worst of them.
Han Jeong-soon, 58, a daughter of a survivor at the memorial, told the Associated Press, “That is what I want President Obama to know, I want him to understand our sufferings as she talked about the difficulties the residents face even today. At the same time, a portion of the American citizens staunchly believe that although the Hiroshima-Nagasaki bombings were greatly destructive,they were well-placed strategies since they ultimately led Japan to surrender and consequently, bring an end to WW II.”
President Obama, accompanied by bomb survivors who reside in the alive and active city, will be laying a wreath of flowers on the memorial, where an eternal fire honors Hiroshima’s dead.
This gesture, while being greatly appreciated across the world, might satisfy a vested political strategy, symbolically strengthening the budding ties between Washington and Tokyo, especially in disputed regions where China’s military might has been on display for long.
With inputs from BBC
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