Let’s Go to Hiroshima

Both government of Japan and United States announced on Tuesday that U.S. President Barack Obama would visit Hiroshima on 27^th of this month, taking the opportunity of participating in Group 7 Summit in Ise-Shima, Japan. It will be the first time for an incumbent U.S. President to visit Hiroshima, which was devastated with an atomic bomb dropped by U.S. Most Japanese are welcoming Obama to deliver a clear message to eliminate nuclear weapons in the world.

Obama had been showing willingness to visit Hiroshima, since he took the seat in 2009. However, possibility of negative political impact inside U.S. was the greatest disturbance for his ambition. There is a persistent notion that the decision of dropping atomic bomb was inevitable and visiting Hiroshima means apology and undermine that cause. It was regarded that the conservatives in Republican Party would accuse Obama’s visit to Hiroshima.

U.S. government carefully considered the internal response to Hiroshima visit. Obama administration has been paving the way. It sent U.S. Ambassador to Japan to annual memorial ceremony in Hiroshima on August 6^th for the first time. Also for the first time, U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, visited Hiroshima and delivered a message that everyone including U.S. President should visit there. Followed by newspaper editorials that urged Obama to visit Hiroshima, the administration realized that U.S. public would not recognize the visit as apology.

Japanese government has been waiting for the decision, recognizing it to be decided voluntarily by U.S. Shinzo Abe administration did not require Obama to express apology with a notion that the visit itself would be epoch-making enough. “Delivering determination for the world without nuclear weapons from nuclear-suffered city must be meaningful for our generation, children, grandchildren or next generation,” told Abe to the reporters.

However, the response of Japanese public was not simple. Although U.S. decision was surprising enough, what Obama would do in Hiroshima mattered. It will not be an expression of apology, if Obama only offers flower to the memorial monument. But, the people being suffering from atomic bomb requires visit to Peace Memorial Museum of Hiroshima to realize what people in Hiroshima experienced. Some explicitly demanded clear apology of Obama in Hiroshima visit.

In the time when an isolated nation in Korean Peninsula is boasting its nuclear power, Obama’s visit to Hiroshima may send firm message to tackle non-proliferation and nuclear disarmament. But, affected by new cold war between U.S. and Russia over Ukraine issue, Obama’s achievement in nuclear disarmament is not so eminent among past Presidents. Not only political performance, but substantial progress is needed.