Remembering Hiroshima

One of the most popular pieces on display at Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Museum is a wristwatch; its hands frozen at 8:15, the exact moment in 1945 that an American B-29 bomber dropped its atomic payload over the city.

Survivor Masahiro Kunishige has long felt that progress in creating a world free of nuclear weapons was, much like the watch, halted. That is why he, unlike other survivors, known in Japan as the Hibukasha, chose for years not to speak about his personal ordeal.

Turning point

"The Hibukasha's campaign to denuclearise lacked momentum," he says. "But now the US president has expressed concerns and goals. That has changed everything."

Doves fly around the Atomic Bomb Dome at the Peace Memorial Park after their release during the memorial ceremony in Hiroshima, on August 6. AFP	Masahiro Kunishige was 14 years old when the Hiroshima bomb was dropped

For Kunishige, Barack Obama's pledge, made last spring, to work to rid the world of its nuclear weapons stockpile was a turning point. It convinced Kunishige, that he too should start publicly speaking out. "I used to be filled with bitterness, and wanted retribution ... I now believe working to rid the world of nuclear weapons is the best way to find that retribution," he says.

Kunishige was just 14 years old when the bomb was dropped. He and his classmates were tending to a wheat field when they were hit by a white flash. Those who awoke found that much of their flesh had literally melted away.

"We had to scrape off what remained. It felt like the top of a can, slicing through your flesh. It was so painful." As Kunishige walks the grounds of the 30-acre Peace Memorial park, he thinks less of the past; his mood is one of determined optimism.

For the first time, the US and its second world war allies, France and Britain, sent delegations to the annual memorial. "It is a small, but significant step forward," says Kunishige.

The arguments in the US against attending have often been that it is "politically incorrect" for allied nations who supported the bombings to be there. More hawkish defenders have insisted that visiting would lead people to forget that Japan was the aggressor, not the victim, in that war.

For image-conscious political strategists, the strongest argument for not having a presence has always been the quandary of contradiction; how to attend a ceremony dedicated to eliminating nuclear weapons, when ones nation itself continues to carry them. Obama's pledge not only addressed such a concern, but has given this ceremony, Kunishige believes, greater meaning.

Nuclear neighbours

But no one is under any illusion here. There are more than 25,000 nuclear weapons in existence and many factors could stall that momentum. Just across the water from Japan is an ever-present example.
The latest word from military analysts is that North Korea may be about to conduct yet another nuclear test. And unlike the previous two, experts say this one could involve a nuclear weapon small enough to be placed on a warhead.

This AFP file photo dated 1945 shows the devastated city of Hiroshima in days after the first atomic bomb was dropped by a US Air Force B-29 on August 6, 1945.

Japanese youths hold candles to pray for victims of the 1945 atomic bombing in front of the Atomic Bomb Dome (background) at Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima on August 5. AFP

Once weaponised, few expect the country will ever willingly give up such technology. The spectre of a nuclear-armed North, under the direction of an ageing, and some fear, increasingly unstable dictator, has concerned its neighbours.

Up until now, South Korea and Japan have relied on what is known as the US nuclear umbrella, relying on the US' arsenal for protection. But in recent days, US officials have begun quietly expressing concerns that its ally in the region, South Korea, may be considering developing its own atomic weapons.

Deterrence

"Deterrence" has often been the reason given for developing nukes. It is a view the UN secretary-general has tried to debunk. "Nuclear disarmament is often dismissed as a dream, when the real fantasies are the claims that nuclear weapons guarantee security or increase a country's status and prestige," Ban said.

"The more often countries make such claims, the more likely it will be that others will adopt the same approach. The result will be insecurity for all." Tadatoshi Akiba, Hiroshima's three-term mayor, wants Japan to take the lead in denuclearisation, saying it is natural, considering the country was the first to experience its horrific use.

During the anniversary ceremony Akiba called on national leaders to officially legislate the country's three non-nuclear principles set out after the second world war — no production, no possession and no introduction of nuclear weapons onto Japanese territory. The mayor, who recently won an international award for his efforts on nuclear disarmament, believes the voices of the world's citizens are becoming the greatest force in the movement.

At 79, Kunishige says he knows he does not have much time left. He is devoting his remaining days to being one extra voice.

He says: "I am sure it will never happen in our lifetime or for a very long time for that matter, but I believe [denuclearisation] will happen. Maybe in our grandchildren's generation."

Courtesy Al-Jazeera.net

US attends Hiroshima memorial ceremony for first time

HIROSHIMA, Aug 6 (AFP) - The United States on Friday for the first time attended a ceremony commemorating its atomic bombing of Hiroshima, 65 years after the Japanese city's obliteration rang in the nuclear age.

Representatives from more than 70 nations joined tens of thousands at the emotional event, held under an azure sky as clear as that on the morning of August 6, 1945 when Hiroshima was transformed into a terrifying inferno.

U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos (C) attends the ceremony for the 65th anniversary of the world's first atomic bombing on the city, at Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima August 6. Reuters

The United States' World War II allies Britain and France, both declared nuclear powers, also sent their first diplomats to the ceremony in the western Japanese city in a sign of support for the goal of nuclear disarmament.

The mournful toll of a temple bell marked the start of a one-minute silence at 8:15 am, when the US B-29 bomber Enola Gay had dropped a history-making device that instantly killed tens of thousands in Hiroshima.

“The human race must not repeat the horror and misery caused by atomic bombs,” Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said in a speech after 1,000 white doves were released in a symbolic gesture for peace.

“Japan, as the only nation to have been attacked by war-time atomic bombs, has a moral responsibility to lead the efforts toward realisation of a world without nuclear weapons,” he said.

“Little Boy”, the four-tonne uranium bomb detonated over Hiroshima, caused a blinding flash and a fireball hot enough to melt sand into glass and vaporise every human within a one mile (1.6 kilometre) radius.
An estimated 140,000 people died instantly in Hiroshima or succumbed to burns and radiation sickness soon after the blast, and over 70,000 perished as a result of another US atomic attack on the port of Nagasaki three days later.

Japan, a wartime ally of Nazi Germany, surrendered on August 15, ending the war in the Pacific after years of ferocious combat with US Marines on islands strung across the ocean. The United States has never acceded to demands in Japan for an apology for the loss of innocent lives in the atomic bombings, which many Western historians believe were necessary to bring a quick end to the war and avoid a land invasion that could have been even more costly.

US ambassador John Roos, whose attendance reflected a shift in policy under Nobel Peace Prize-winning President Barack Obama, in a statement urged collaboration “to realise a world without nuclear weapons”.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday that Obama “thought it appropriate” to recognize the anniversary as he vies to rid the world of nuclear arms. Some saw Roos's attendance as an indication that Obama would visit Hiroshima during a trip to Japan later this year, as the sides seek to improve ties following controversy over an agreement to relocate a US airbase in Okinawa.

Kan voiced hopes for an Obama visit. “It will be very meaningful if his visit to Hiroshima and Nagasaki comes true,” he said, according to Jiji Press. Hanako Nogami, 92, braved the hot weather to attend the ceremony to pray for the soul of her brother, who was in Hiroshima at the time of the bombing, and whose remains were never found.

“I looked for him for days after the bombing, but he was nowhere to be found,” she told AFP. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also attended, becoming the first UN chief to take part in the annual event at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial.

Ban, who visited Nagasaki Thursday, reiterated his call for the abolition of nuclear weapons and said he would convene a conference on disarmament in New York in September. “For many of you, that day endures, as vivid as the white light that seared the sky, as dark as the black rains that followed,” Ban said.

Two decades after the Cold War ended, the United States and Russia still have more than 22,000 nuclear warheads between them. France, Britain, China, India, Pakistan and Israel have a combined total of about 1,000, says the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament.

The global stockpile is equivalent to about 150,000 Hiroshima bombs.