Hiroshima gears up for 70th A-bomb anniv., peace campaigners gather

[yuiyoshida]

HIROSHIMA (Kyodo) -- The Hiroshima city government said Tuesday it expects representatives from a record 100 countries to attend its annual ceremony on Thursday to mark the U.S. atomic bombing in 1945, as peace activists continued to gather in the western Japan city.

The participants will include U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy, who will be attending the event for the second year in a row after assuming her post in late 2013, and a senior U.S. State Department official in charge of arms control, according to the U.S. government.

Kennedy and Rose Gottemoeller, undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, will also attend a ceremony to be held on Sunday in Nagasaki, the other city devastated by a U.S. atomic bomb. It is the first time that a high-level Washington official will attend the two ceremonies, according to the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo.

The move comes amid growing calls in Japan for U.S. President Barack Obama to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki to see the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons.

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20150805p2g00m0dm049000c.html

[davidpdx]

1. Considering President Obama already supports nuclear arms reduction and opposes nuclear

proliferation, I think a visit to Hiroshima or Nagasaki won't make any difference. Considering the US Ambassador Kennedy will be at both ceremonies, she will represent the US well.