Washington: Much has been made out of US President Barak Obama's maiden visit to Japan. The media in the West has been agog with the likely impact as the US embarks on wooing the East, of course with China on its mind.
Three major issues have garnered maximum attention of the US President's visit. First has been the dropping of the arms embargo on Vietnam. The second is the Trans-Pacific Partnership which forms the pivot of its Asia-Pacific foreign policy. The third significant issue is the symbolic impact that Obama hopes to leave from his visit after the US tore the country apart with the nuclear bombings in the course of war.
Right since the visit was announced, speculation was rife that Obama, during his visit to Hiroshima, would tender an apology for the US' decision to resort the city at the height of war. This, believed several experts, would have gone a long way in sending the right message as both countries embark on betterment of ties.
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However, that was not to be. Obama has refused to apologise for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on his landmark visit to Japan this week, saying, 'during war we make all kinds of decisions'.
"It’s important to recognize that in the midst of war, leaders make all kinds of decisions, it’s a job of historians to ask questions and examine them,” Obama said in an interview with Japanese public broadcaster NHK.
“But I know, as somebody who’s now sat in this position for the last seven and half years, that every leader makes very difficult decisions, particularly during wartime.”
Obama said his visit to Hiroshima, the first city to suffer an atomic bombing, would emphasize friendly ties between former enemies. The White House says Obama will call for a nuclear weapons-free planet from Hiroshima.
Obama will become the first sitting US president to tour the site of the world’s first nuclear bombing this Friday, accompanied by Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe.
The United States dropped a nuclear bomb in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, killing around 1,46,000 people by the end of the year.Nagasaki was hit on August 9, killing around 80,000 people and forcing Japan to surrender six days later.
The memorials in Hiroshima and Nagasaki contain lists of the names of the hibakusha who are known to have died since the bombings. Updated annually on the anniversaries of the bombings, as of August 2015 the memorials record the names of more than 460,000 hibakusha; 297,684 in Hiroshima and 168,767 in Nagasaki.
Around 1,900 cancer deaths can be attributed to the after-effects of the bombs, a study by Radiation Effects Research Foundation (RERF) found.
Many Americans are of the view that use of nuclear bombs in Japan was necessary to end the long drawn war and avoid further destruction but Japanese were unjustified.
However, sealed documents released over the decades since the end of the war, suggest the US was the one that did the provoking. The US apparently began to implement an '8-point plan' - that included an oil embargo on Japan - specifically to annoy Japan into attacking it. Its aim? The U.S. wanted to help its European allies fight the Nazis but average Americans didn't want their country to engage in the war. By provoking Japan to attack the US, the latter could justify entering World War II.
Obama is also scheduled to attend a summit of the Group of Seven industrialized nations in Japan's Ise-Shima city on Thursday.
He is currently on a three-day visit to Vietnam, with stops in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, for meetings with leaders, a speech on U.S.-Vietnam relations, visits to cultural treasures and sessions with civic leaders and entrepreneurs.
Obama's final year in office is heavy with foreign travel as he conducts what amounts to a long, global farewell tour. He's already made a historic trip to Cuba and visited Saudi Arabia, Germany and Britain. He's due to make a day trip to Canada next month, attend a NATO summit in Poland in July and expected to become the first president to visit Laos in the fall.
