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Sunday, May 29, 2016

Powerful message from an A-bomb survivor  


     President Obama became the first sitting American president to visit the Japanese city of Hiroshima since U.S. warplanes dropped the first atomic bomb on August 6, 1945.  Giving his speech, he was eloquent as he is, calling for nuclear-free world, but is he really serious about that? To let the world know his seriousness he must take actions. That is what he must do after the "historic" visit to Hiroshima.

     After I listened to his speech, I heard a powerful voice from an A-bomb survivor. She speaks fluently in English, so it must be very moving for English speakers to hear her talking about what happened on the day when the first atomic bomb was dropped on human beings, and warnings to all of us living in this nuclear age.

      "I have serious question. We have to start getting rid of them as quickly as possible, before the accident takes place, before terrorists take serious action. I have seen the massive death and suffering, and I don’t want to see the similar situation multiplied by the hundreds and thousands. I just can’t understand. I want the United States—as Mr. Obama said, United States has the moral responsibility to lead action toward abolition. Please back that statement with concrete action, soon."

     The above is from the interview on Democracy Now! with Setsuko Thurlow, who survived the Hiroshima atomic bombing, about the bombing of 1945 and her push to eliminate nuclear weapons. See more at:
"I Want the World to Wake Up": Hiroshima Survivor Criticizes Obama for Pushing New Nuclear Weapons May 27, 2016 Web Exclusive http://www.democracynow.org/2016/5/27/atomic_bomb_survivor_setsuko_thurlow_on


 In the following interview, the survivor talks about August 6th of 1945
"We Learned to Step over the Dead": Hiroshima Survivor & Anti-Nuclear Activist Recalls U.S. Bombing  May 27, 2016 Story
http://www.democracynow.org/2016/5/27/we_learned_to_step_over_the


News coverage of Obama's visit to Hiroshima
In Hiroshima Obama Calls for World Without Nukes, Contradicting New $1 Trillion Weapon Upgrade Plan   May 27, 2016 Story http://www.democracynow.org/2016/5/27/in_hiroshima_obama_calls_for_world


I really appreciate Democracy Now! for these special and precious interviews.

On the day I first visited Hiroshima on "August 6th"
 

Sunday, May 22, 2016

The experience of nuclear weapons is something too large  


Mr. Obama is to visit Hiroshima on 27th of May 2016. This is the first visit of the president of United States to the place on which USA dropped the first atomic bomb in human history.

I am not sure if his visit is to be hailed or not, but I've found  profound words from Japanese Nobel Laureate Kenzaburo Oe on 70th Anniversary of US Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the site of Democracy Now!

 "I believe that the issue or the experience of nuclear weapons is something too large for any individual to apologize for, and it’s the responsibility of all humanity to take on board. So rather than an apology, I believe that what’s important is to call for an expression of the will and the dedication to create a world free of nuclear weapons."

See the whole interview at http://www.democracynow.org/2015/8/6/japanese_nobel_laureate_kenzaburo_oe_on

As a person who was born and live in Japan where hundreds of thousands of people have been suffering from atomic bombings and Fukushima-daiichi nuclear disaster, I do believe nuclear weapons and nuclear power should be abolished for human beings to survive.


   Collect warheads of
        Nuclear missiles on the earth
          Send them to Jupiter
    'Cause peach trees will be blooming
      Next spring on the brown planet


The tanka poem and the drawing
from "Flowers and Bombs" by Kaoru Kobashi
published in 2004


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