Japan Marks Hiroshima Anniversary, Invites Leaders

[Donger]

http://abcnews.go.com/International/...mbing-24858379

Japan marked the 69th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima on Wednesday, with the city's mayor inviting world leaders to see atomic bomb-scarred cities firsthand to be convinced that nuclear weapons should not exist.

Speaking before a crowd of survivors, their descendants and dignitaries including U.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy, the mayor urged U.S. President Barack Obama and others to visit, referring to a proposal made at a ministerial meeting in April of the Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Initiative in Hiroshima

"President Obama and all leaders of nuclear-armed nations, please respond to that call by visiting the A-bombed cities as soon as possible to see what happened with your own eyes," Mayor Kazumi Matsui said. "If you do, you will be convinced that nuclear weapons are an absolute evil that must no longer be allowed to exist."

About 45,000 people stood for a minute of silence at the ceremony in Hiroshima's peace park near the epicenter of the 1945 bombing that killed up to 140,000 people. The bombing of Nagasaki three days later killed another 70,000, prompting Japan's surrender in World War II.

The number of surviving victims, known as "hibakusha," was just more than 190,000 this year. Their average age is 79, and many of the attendants at the ceremony were their younger relatives and descendants. Hiroshima officials said 5,507 survivors died over the past year.

The anniversary comes as Japan is divided over Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's recent Cabinet decision to allow the country's military to defend foreign countries and play greater roles overseas. To achieve the goal, Abe's Cabinet revised its interpretation of Japan's post-WWII pacifist constitution.

Abe said at the event that as the sole country to suffer nuclear attacks, Japan has the duty to seek to eliminate nuclear weapons. But he did not mention his push for a more assertive defense posture.

Public polls show more than half of the Japanese are opposed to the decision, mainly because of sensitivity over Japan's wartime past.

Matsui did not directly refer to Abe's recent change. But he said the pacifist constitution is what has kept Japan out of war for 69 years.

[WhawhaWhat]

69 hehe.

[L.A. Chieffan]

There was an interesting segment on John Oliver last week about the complete uselessness of nuclear arms and the dunces that watch over them.

[Rausch]

Originally Posted by Donger

But he said the pacifist constitution is what has kept Japan out of war for 69 years.

I know there are a number of factors (like the US providing for Japan's defense) but Japan's stability and autonomy are directly related to the constitution provided for them after WWII.

Japan has flourished and at times exceeded the economic and technological achievements of the US commercial market.

All this while being smaller than all but two US states.

Our lack of support for JAP is a huge misstep...

[blaise]

Send them a photo of Pearl Harbor.

[BigBeauford]

Sounds like a blast.

[Trivers]

Originally Posted by BigBeauford

Sounds like a blast.

GROAN!

[ptlyon]

Originally Posted by blaise

Send them a photo of Pearl Harbor.

And a Ba Ba Blacksheep DVD box set

[alpha_omega]

In other news.....

"Today, the United States did NOT have a memorial remembering the One Million plus men that were killed invading the Japanese Islands in 1945".

[mikey23545]

Originally Posted by alpha_omega

In other news.....

"Today, the United States did NOT have a memorial remembering the One Million plus men that were killed invading the Japanese Islands in 1945".

X 1,000,000

[Donger]

[Mr. Laz]

don't start no shit, won't be no shit

[Donger]

Originally Posted by alpha_omega

In other news.....

"Today, the United States did NOT have a memorial remembering the One Million plus men that were killed invading the Japanese Islands in 1945".

It wouldn't have been 1,000,000 but yes, a lot.

[Bufkin]

Truman was a war criminal who hastily dropped atomic bombs on innocent civilians who did nothing wrong. Murdering a half-million people could have been prevented in regards to ending the war. President Eisenhower has some great quotations regarding the Hiroshima and Nagasaki genocide. Truman was a murderous blood-thirsty maniac.

[ptlyon]

And here we go...