TOKYO (AP) — Hiroshima and Pearl Harbor, two symbols of the enmity between Japan and the United States during World War II, will now promote peace and brotherhood through a sister parks agreement.
US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel and Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui on Thursday signed a sister parks agreement for the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and Pearl Harbor National Park in Hawaii.
“No one can go to Pearl Harbor and no one can walk into the Hiroshima Peace Park, walk through the front gate, and walk out the same person,” Emanuel said during a signing ceremony for the agreement at the US embassy in Tokyo. .
“I think the hope with this is that we will inspire people across the United States and across Japan to visit the Hiroshima Peace Park and visit Pearl Harbor so they can learn the spirit of reconciliation,” Emanuel said.
Under the sister parks agreement, the two sites will promote exchanges and share experiences in the restoration of historic structures and landscapes, the use of virtual reality and digital imagery for preservation and education, as well as best practices in educating young people and tourism management, said the embassy.
“The brotherhood agreement between the two parks related to the beginning and end of the war will be evidence that humanity, despite making the mistake of waging war, can come to its senses and reconcile and seek peace,” he declared. Matsui.
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 brought the United States into World War II. The United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, killing about 140,000 people, and a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki three days later, killing another 70,000. Japan surrendered on August 15, ending the war and nearly half a century of aggression across Asia.
Since the war, both countries have forged a powerful alliance.
In Hiroshima, some atomic bomb survivors raised concerns about the sister parks agreement, saying it could help justify the use of nuclear weapons and should be reconsidered.
