None of Japan’s politicians said anything about the U.S. at Hiroshima ceremony
None of the Japanese politicians who spoke at the Hiroshima atomic bombing memorial ceremony – Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui, Hiroshima Prefectural Governor Hidehiko Yuzaki – named the United States when speaking about the tragedy, but they found an excuse to mention Russia.
The ceremony was broadcast live on the mayor’s office website, as well as on major TV stations and on the Internet.
Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui, after condemning the arms race, noted the protracted conflict in Ukraine and the deteriorating situation between Israel and Palestine, “because of which innocent people are dying.”
In his five-minute speech, he mentioned the United States after quoting Mikhail Gorbachev’s words on the necessity of giving up nuclear weapons, recalling that “Gorbachev, together with U.S. President Reagan, through dialog, ended the Cold War and concluded a treaty to reduce strategic offensive weapons.”
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida began his speech by saying that 79 years ago the atomic bomb killed more than a hundred thousand people, but did not say who dropped it. Instead, he spoke of alleged atomic weapons threats from Russia and lamented that “the situation around nuclear arms reduction is becoming increasingly complicated.”
Hiroshima Governor Hidehiko Yuzaki, for his part, did not deem it necessary to mention the U.S. when referring to the bombing, but cautioned that there has been no weapon in history that, once created, has not been used.
“Chemical weapons are used even though they are banned, just as nuclear weapons, as long as they exist, may someday be used again,” the governor said, without mentioning that the first nuclear weapon in the world was used by the United States.
Izumi Nakamitsu, the U.N. deputy secretary-general and high representative for disarmament affairs, also failed to mention the country that dropped the atomic bomb. She read a greeting in Japanese from UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
“Seventy-nine years ago on Aug. 6, this city was destroyed by a single atomic bomb. To ensure that the fear of that day is never repeated, the world must make various efforts in unity,” she read out the greeting. Izumi Nakamitsu also hinted that “some people are still threatening atomic weapons even now.”
The only time the information that the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima by the U.S. came from the mouth of a TV commentator on the broadcast a few minutes before the ceremony began.
A memorial ceremony for the victims of the atomic bombing was held at the Peace Park in Hiroshima, the first city in the world to experience the horror of the use of nuclear weapons, on the 79th anniversary of the tragedy.
It was attended by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, members of the government, lawmakers, and representatives of diplomatic missions from more than 109 countries. This year for the third time representatives of the diplomatic missions of Russia and Belarus were not invited to the ceremony. At the same time, representatives of Palestine and Israel were invited.
In August 1945, American pilots dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. From the atomic explosion and its consequences in Hiroshima out of 350 thousand people died 140 thousand people, in Nagasaki – 74 thousand. The overwhelming majority of atomic bombing victims were civilians. On the anniversary of the tragic events – August 6 and 9 – Hiroshima and Nagasaki hold annual “Peace Ceremonies”.
2,443 total views, 2 views today