Wonder, doubt after Obama’s Hiroshima visit

HIROSHIMA / AP

The survivors of the world’s first atomic bomb attack are used to hearing grand vows to rid the world of nuclear weapons. They just don’t usually come directly from the leader of the country that dropped the bomb on them in the first place.
On Saturday, a day after Barack Obama left, there was gratitude — wonder, even — that he had become the first sitting US president to visit the place where the nuclear age began. But there was also clear-eyed recognition that the realities of a dangerous, fickle world may trump Obama’s call for nations, including his own, to have the “the courage to escape the logic of fear” of nuclear weapons stockpiling.
Hiroshima cherishes its survivors — a grove not far from the atomic bomb’s hypocenter proudly displays signs announcing that these “A-bombed Trees” still thrive — but there’s also some skepticism when faced with yet another anti-nuclear call, even from the leader of the world’s sole superpower.
“The world paid attention to what happened here, even if just for a while, because someone as important as (Obama) came to Hiroshima. So perhaps it could make things a little bit better,” Kimie Miyamoto, 89, a bomb survivor, said in an interview. “But you never know if it will really make a difference, because so much depends on what other countries are thinking as well.”
Asked if Obama’s visit could inspire those countries to abandon nuclear weapons, she shook her head. “I don’t think so,” she said, “because there are so many (bombs) in the world.”
Long after Obama left for Washington, people here were loath to let go of his whirlwind trip.
Into the night, a line at Peace Memorial Park stretched from an arched stone monument that honors the 140,000 who died from the Aug. 6, 1945, bombing to a museum that tells the stories of some of those dead, about 200 meters (yards) away. People stood patiently, inching forward and waiting for their chance to take pictures of the wreath Obama had left behind.
People around Hiroshima were still talking about their glimpses of Obama as they lined the streets to watch his motorcade speed by or watched the media coverage that documented nearly every single moment of the two hours he spent in Hiroshima in a carefully choreographed political performance meant to close old wounds without inflaming new passions.
Beneath the thrill that lingered from Obama’s star power, there was also a widespread desire to keep momentum going.