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Commentary: The G7 summit in Hiroshima will make global leaders face the persistent nuclear threat.

This academic believes that the accounts of Hiroshima’s living hibakushas will endure as a sobering reminder of the horrors of nuclear annihilation with Hiroshima hosting the G7 conference.

Hiroshima, the first city to be destroyed by a nuclear weapon, will host the annual Group of Seven (G7) leader’s summit, which brings together seven of the richest nations in the world. This will put the current global challenges in stark relief. The opportunity for leaders to interact directly with survivors who still desire to share their story with the public is crucial.

Hiroshima has been imprinted on people’s minds forever as a representation of tenacity in the face of nuclear disaster. Additionally, it is the location of a sizable community of “hibakushas,” or those who survived the atomic bomb. 39,590 of the estimated 118,935 hibakushas still reside in Hiroshima, Japan.Fumio Kishida, the prime minister of Japan, is responsible for the city’s hosting of the G7 summit. He has continuously emphasized the importance of his hometown rather than downplaying its tragic past as a Hiroshima native.

He assisted in organizing the 2016 US presidential visit to Hiroshima, where Barack Obama met with survivors, in his capacity as foreign minister. After declaring the G7 meeting for this year in Hiroshima, Kishida unveiled his Hiroshima action plan, which intends to uphold and strengthen the 1970 Non-Proliferation Treaty.

In order for world leaders to comprehend the terrible effects of utilizing nuclear bombs, Kishida also committed to extend invitations for them to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

My research explores how different generations’ perspectives might redefine survivor experiences. I am currently conducting interviews with the third generation, also known as hibaku sansei in Japanese, who are the grandkids of survivors.Survivors are frequently reticent to share their experiences because of the lack of transparency around the history of the atomic blasts, which offends them severely. Through numerous interviews, I think it’s critical to try to understand the causes of their silence as well as their stories, relying on their viewpoints and experiences.

ARMIES AND PEACE

The G7 leaders are gathering as a number of issues, including the conflict in the Ukraine, hostilities between China and Taiwan, and a quickening global weapons race, are reaching new heights.

As a result of its disastrous defeat in 1945, which culminated in the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the loss of its imperial status, Japan withdrew from international affairs after the Second World War. Thousands of individuals were slain in this horrible crime, and countless survivors were left with illnesses that have been passed on to their offspring.

Consequently, it is encouraging to hear a Japanese leader make what looks to be a bold and unequivocal declaration that the G7 summit should, at a time of war, be primarily focused on peace.

Hiroshima currently features lovely parks, memorials, and museums that showcase the bomb’s materials and impact on people’s lives, 78 years after the city was on the verge of extinction due to bombing. It was projected at the time that the city would not experience any growth for many years.

In the wake of the explosion, understandably, many survivors left or immigrated, but some managed to carry out crucial study into how the atomic bombs affected the city’s environment and geology despite incredibly challenging circumstances.

While some diligently carried out medical studies and cared for survivors, others slowly made heartbreaking artworks that reflected their own personal suffering. These latter actions led to the care facilities and hospitals that now house hundreds of elderly hibakushas.

While they wished to aid their neighbors, they also hoped that one day the world would visit the revitalized city. To grant this goal, it took a Hiroshima native named Fumio Kishida to be elected prime minister.

SURVIVING TO WRITE THE STORY

The cost to the survivors who rebuilt the city and kept the memories of the atomic blasts alive for future generations was tremendous.

Keiko Ogura, now 86, a city official storyteller, was eight years old and living at home in a Hiroshima neighborhood when she was exposed to radiation, including from the deadly “black rain” that poured from the mushroom cloud on August 6, 1945.

She has tirelessly carried on the work of her late husband Kaoru Ogura, one of the museum’s original directors, who brought the story of the hibakusha to the rest of the world.She admitted that speaking about her experience being exposed to the atomic bomb during our interview for my study had left her feeling quite anxious. Hibakushas were raised in a tolerant but prejudiced society.

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The Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall after the atomic attack is seen in a file photo from September 1945. (AFP photo)

On August 6, 1945, the US air force detonated an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, marking the first nuclear attack on a civilian population. (Photo: AFP/HIROSHIMA PEACE MEMORIAL MUSEUM)

The Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall after the atomic attack is seen in a file photo from September 1945. (AFP photo)

On August 6, 1945, the US air force detonated an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, marking the first nuclear attack on a civilian population. (Photo: AFP/HIROSHIMA PEACE MEMORIAL MUSEUM)

The Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall after the atomic attack is seen in a file photo from September 1945. (AFP photo)

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Following the bombing, the Japanese military government and the US occupation both worked to have any reference to the seismic event removed, while also downplaying the deadly consequences of the bomb on human life and stifling survivor accounts.

Can you image having to watch somebody you care about go through agonizing pain? asked Kyoko Gibson, a 75-year-old Hiroshima native who now resides in the UK. The hibakushas were certain that they would not be seen as mere victims and agreed to become the regrettable collateral damage of Japan’s surrender on August 15, 1945.

Nobel Prize-winning novelist Kenzaburo Oe wrote in a series of autobiographical writings about how a conversation with a hibakusha he spoke to for his 1965 book Hiroshima Notes transformed his life. He continued to fight for their cause throughout his life, claiming that the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were primarily a lesson in self-reflection.

The G7 leaders may come to the conclusion that accepting Kishida’s action plan and the accompanying agreement on the policy of no-first-use is the only moral course of action if they hear the heartbreaking testimonies of Hiroshima survivors.

This may contribute to making the crucial space for respectful discourse across differences. Are they going to seize this chance?

What philosopher Bertrand Russell and physicist Albert Einstein defined as the peril to all of us in 1955 is still likely the biggest menace to world peace today: weapons of mass destruction. Hibakusha legends from Hiroshima should serve as a constant caution against this terrible act of human stupidity.

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