US ambassador attends Hiroshima peace memorial

THE site of the world’s worst atomic bomb attack echoed with choirs and Buddhist prayers as Hiroshima prepared to mark its biggest memorial yet and the first to be attended by the US and other major nuclear powers.

Washington’s decision to send US Ambassador John Roos to the 65th anniversary was seen by many as potentially paving the way for President Barack Obama to visit Hiroshima — which would be unprecedented for a sitting US leader.

Along with the US, Britain and France were also to make their first official appearance at the memorial today, along with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Altogether, 75 nations were to be represented.

China, which sent a low-ranking official in 2008, was not participating. Officials said it did not give a reason.

Hiroshima tries to ensure that the memorial — while honouring the 140,000 who died on or soon after the attack on August 6, 1945 — emphasises a look-forward approach, focusing not on whether the bombing was justified, a point which many Japanese dispute, but on averting a future nuclear attack.

Ban, who visited Nagasaki yesterday before arriving in Hiroshima, said this year’s memorial will signal strongly to the world that nuclear weapons must be destroyed.

“The only way to ensure that such weapons will never again be used is to eliminate them all,” he said.

Washington’s decision to attend the anniversary has been welcomed by Japan’s government, but has generated complex feelings among some Japanese, who see the bombing as unjustified and want the United States to apologise.

“Americans think that the bombing was reasonable because it speeded up the end of the war. They try to see it in a positive way,” Naomi Sawa, a 69-year-old former teacher, said after paying her respects to the dead. “But we were devastated.”

About 140,000 people were killed or died within months when the American B-29 Enola Gay bombed Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Three days later, about 80,000 people died after the United States attacked Nagasaki.

Japan surrendered on August 15, ending World War II.

Concerns that attending the ceremony — an emotional event beginning with the offering of water to the dead and the ringing of a bell to soothe their souls — would reopen old wounds had kept the US away until this year.