President
Barak Obama will visit Japan from Wednesday in this week,
but it has been reported that he would not visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the
cities that were atom-bombed by the United States during the World War II. The
Nikkei reported that survivors of atom bombing have been disappointed with
President Obama.
In December 2013, the mayor of Nagasaki city had requested President
Obama to visit Nagasaki when Caroline Kennedy, the United States Ambassador to
Japan, visited Nagasaki. A week after her visit, she met with the mayor of
Hiroshima at the U.S. embassy, and he handed the document that requested the
President’s visit to Hiroshima to the Ambassador Kennedy. However, President’s visit was not realized.
One of survivors of atomic bomb in
Hiroshima claimed that, since President Obama received Nobel Peace Prize in
2009 because of his proposal of abolition of nuclear weapons, he
should consider Japan as the atom-bombed country. Also, the president of Nagasaki victim of atomic bomb council was disappointed by claiming that President
Obama should look at the reality caused by atomic bomb and should ensure
there is no nuclear weapon in the world, as the country that had used nuclear
weapons first in the world and also the country that proposed abolishing nuclear weapons.
68 years has passed since the end of the WWII, and survivors of atomic
bomb has been increasingly aged very much. It has been said that the memory of
the disaster caused by atomic bomb has faded as time passes. I would say the fact that
President Obama will not visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki would not directly cause huge negative effect on the U.S. public diplomacy to Japan since the population involved with this incident who are affected by his decision are now few compared to whole population in Japan.
However,
I would say President should have visited these cities and have had a talk with
survivors of atomic bomb as an “engagement,” which is one of the factors that could lead valuable effect
on public diplomacy. By doing so, his visit to these cities could be reported
to all over Japan by mass media and social media. Then the positive image of the United States could spread from local individuals in Hiroshima and Nagasaki to the public by social media. By doing so, eventually, the image of the United
States that Japanese people have could move toward more positive direction.
From my personal view, Japan is one of the defeated nations and the
country that has cruelly colonized other countries so that Japan has had many factors that should be compensated. At the same time, however, the damage that Hiroshima
and Nagasaki had received by atomic bomb is enormous, and survivors are still
suffering from this historical incident. Even though atomic bomb attack by the
United States related to Japan’s attitude toward the war at that time, the
United States should consider Japan as the country that has been damaged by atomic
bomb and should look at the reality of this damage since President of the
United States proposed abolishment of nuclear weapons from the world, as a mayor of victim city said. In reality, Japanese
people do not conceive hostility toward the United States about atomic bomb
attack, but as I discussed above, the image of the Untied States that each
Japanese individuals have could become more positive if the president Obama
would visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
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