Roos set to attend A-bomb ceremony

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

2010/07/29

John Roos, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, will be the first American to represent his government at the annual peace memorial ceremony in Hiroshima on Aug. 6, the 65th anniversary of the city's atomic bombing, Japanese government sources said Wednesday.

The move, the first for any U.S. government representative, is in line with U.S. President Barack Obama's initiative on nuclear disarmament, the sources said.

Since 1998, the Hiroshima city government has sent invitations to all countries with nuclear weapons to attend the annual ceremony.

Photo: John Roos

So far, India, Pakistan, Russia and China have taken part. The United States, Britain and France have not.

This year, however, the U.S. government decided that its ambassador should attend in response to Obama's call for a nuclear weapons-free world.

France has already said it is sending its interim acting ambassador to the ceremony. Britain also plans to send its embassy officials.

However, Roos will not attend a similar peace memorial ceremony to be held in Nagasaki, which was leveled by a U.S. atomic bomb on Aug. 9, 1945, the sources said.

In October last year, Roos visited Hiroshima and viewed the Peace Memorial Museum there. Afterward, he told reporters he was deeply moved by the exhibits.

"We are placing high value on the participation (of John Roos) as (showing) the U.S. government's change of stance from keeping its distance from Hiroshima and Nagasaki," said Kota Kiya, a member of a group of A-bomb victims in Hiroshima Prefecture.

"Given public opinion in the United States, it would be extremely difficult (for the United States) to apologize to Japan for dropping atomic bombs. But we hope the United States will take part in the ceremony every year," Kiya said.