Even in the year 1998 the A-Bomb is not banned from human life...
Hiroshima looks back in sorrow, forward in anger
August 5 1998
06:05 AM ET 08/05/98
By Elaine Lies
HIROSHIMA, Japan, Aug 5 (Reuters) - On the eve of the 53rd anniversary
of the world's first atomic bombing, survivors on Wednesday looked back in sorrow and
forward in anger at what they see as a global drift back to nuclear weapons.
Under a scorching sun in Peace Park, centre of the city where the bomb
was dropped on August 6, 1945, an always sombre mood was this week more grim than usual
because of Indian and Pakistani nuclear testing in May.
Buddhist monks chanted sutras, families of the dead offered flowers,
incense and thousands of folded paper cranes - symbols of peace in what was 53 years ago a
city of the dead and damned.
The wishes were more fervent than ever with the nuclear genie out of
the bottle again.
``Why do people just keep on doing stupid things over and over again?''
said 43-year-old housewife Hideko Yokoo.
``If people in India and Pakistan could just come here and know how
things really were. Because when you think hundreds of people died from the bomb right
where you are walking now, it just freezes you in your tracks.'' India's five nuclear
explosions on May 11 and 13, followed by six tests by neighbouring Pakistan on May 28 and
30, brought economic sanctions on both countries, but polls have shown many Indians and
Pakistanis are proud of the tests.
``If the people in India and Pakistan knew what really happened here,
they couldn't possibly support what their government has done,'' said bomb survivor Yoshio
Yoshioka, 69.
The bomb dropped on Hiroshima killed an estimated 140,000 people by the
end of 1945 alone, according to city records, with thousands dying of related illnesses
over the succeeding years. Yoshioka, 16, when the bomb was dropped, was 1.5 kilometres
(almost one mile) from ground zero in Peace Park and suffered severe burns.
But he feels he was lucky.
His best friend was working with classmates close to ground zero and
was killed. The two had drawn lots to see who would work on which day and Yoshioka won and
worked on August 5.
Kei Sugiyama, a 26-year-old nurse, says living in the western Japanese
city is to live among the dead.
``Walking here gives me a strange feeling the war never ended,''
Sugiyama said. ``That countries today are still testing these weapons, and that people are
proud of this, just strikes me as egotism and nothing more.''
The ambassadors of India and Pakistan have travelled to Hiroshima for
the anniversary ceremonies.
But in what one Hiroshima official said was a disappointing snub to
city authorities, the ambassadors of the five longtime nuclear powers -- the United
States, Britain, France, China and Russia -- as usual turned down invitations to attend.
Writing in a visitors book at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum,
Indian Ambassador Siddharth Singh said his country was ``ready to cooperate with all
countries and all peoples'' to
negotiate a convention that would lead to the total elimination of nuclear weapons from
the world.
``There must never, ever be another Hiroshima,'' Singh wrote.
Nuclear activists from around the world have gathered for the
anniversary, holding a series of conferences to denounce not only India and Pakistan but
the five major nuclear powers.
Maj-Britt Theorin, president of the International Peace Bureau, said
the world had reached a new crossroad for action to abolish nuclear weapons.
``Nuclear testing by India and Pakistan make it clear there is need for
a new political energy to stop a new nuclear arms race and turn to real disarmament of
nuclear weapons,'' Theorin said.
((Tokyo Newsroom +81-3 3432 8018
tokyo.newsroom+reuters.com))
REUTERS
Sorrow mixes with anger as Japan renews peace vow
August 6 1998
03:31 AM ET 08/06/98
By Elaine Lies
HIROSHIMA, Japan, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Sorrow mixed with anger on
the 53rd anniversary of the world's first atomic bombing on Thursday as thousands gathered
to remember the dead and renew their commitment to peace.
Prayers for a nuclear-free world took on a grim new significance
in the wake of Indian and Pakistani testing in May that many fear may have started a
global drift back towards nuclear weapons.
Wisps of incense drifted up from altars in Peace Park, the centre
of town and near where the atomic bomb exploded on August 6, 1945, as people clad in black
made offerings of flowers and lit candles.
Others brought thousands of folded paper cranes as symbols of
peace by which to remember the day the city became a living hell.
The bomb dropped on Hiroshima killed an estimated 140,000 people
by the end of 1945, according to city records, with thousands dying of related illnesses
afterwards.
At Thursday's ceremony another 4,927 names were added to the list of
the dead, bringing the total to 207,045.
Despite the example of the fury that nuclear weapons can wreak, Mayor
Takashi Hiraoka said, peace still appeared a distant hope, with the situation approaching
a crisis.
``With the nuclear tests first by India and then by Pakistan, tension
has been raised to new extremes in Southwest Asia and the nuclear non-proliferation
agreement has been shaken to its core,'' he told an estimated 50,000 people attending
ceremonies at the park.
``Hiroshima is outraged at the two states' nuclear tests, and
fearful they might provoke a chain reaction of nuclearisation,'' he said.
His statements were echoed by Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, who
termed the nuclear tests ``extremely regrettable'' and said the government ``viewed this
with great concern.''
``We ask that both countries cease testing immediately and
strongly urge them to sign the non-proliferation treaty,'' Obuchi said.
``As the only country to have experienced atomic bombing, we will
work with new resolve to fulfil our desire of no more Hiroshimas,'' Obuchi said, adding
that the five long-time nuclear powers -- the United States, Britain, France, China and
Russia -- must also cooperate to make any proposals work.
At a news conference later, Obuchi said Japan would make greater
efforts to communicate and cooperate with threshold nuclear powers, and that these efforts
already appeared to be bearing fruit.
He said Japan also hoped to hold an international meeting on
disarmament in Tokyo at the end of this month.
The ambassadors of India and Pakistan attended the anniversary
ceremonies, but in what city authorities called a disappointing snub, the ambassadors of
the long-term nuclear powers turned down invitations to attend, as they generally do.
``I feel that it was a very sad thing that India and Pakistan conducted
nuclear tests,'' said 17-year-old Akiko Morioka.
``I want to say to them to stop this. Because anything that could
produce more victims of nuclear bombs is a terrible and cruel thing.''
((Tokyo Newsroom +81-3 3432 8018
tokyo.newsroom+reuters.com))
REUTERS