It’s been over seven decades since the nuking of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States, and Japanese officials believe television could play an important role in raising awareness of nuclear weapons.
“People can understand that the bomb instantly destroyed the city and society, took many precious lives, left countless people injured, and still continue to hurt and discriminate those who survived,” Hidehiko Yuzaki, governor of the Hiroshima Prefecture, said.
He acknowledged he doesn't watch HBO's Chernobyl mini-series, but believes that "it is meaningful to share a tragic reality of the use of a nuclear weapon in Hiroshima and Nagasaki through the media such as TV."
Last month, while Donald Trump was in Japan on a state visit, Hiroshima and Nagasaki sent letters of protest over the latest subcritical nuclear test by the US.
Subcritical tests are conducted to test the reliability of stockpiles without a nuclear blast. They do not involve enough plutonium to sustain a chain-reaction and, therefore, the catastrophic release of huge amounts of energy.
The latest such test in the US was conducted in Nevada in February. Although this is the only type of test accepted internationally under the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, Hidehiko Yuzaki said that his prefecture is “against any nuclear testing, including subcritical nuclear tests” and advocates nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, in general.
Japanese officials, including Hiroshima’s ex-mayor Tadatoshi Akiba, have invited Donald Trump on several occasions in the past to visit the cities.
Although US representatives have been attending Hiroshima bombing memorial every year since 2010, Donald Trump has so far failed to grace the lands with his presence.
Speaking at a Japanese air base in November 2017, at a time of heightened tensions with North Korea, Trump touted what he called the United States’ military dominance.
“No one, no dictator, no regime, and no nation should underestimate ever American resolve," he said back then. "Every once in a while in the past they underestimated us. It was not pleasant for them, was it? It was not pleasant.”
Although the speech, which cited “dictators” and “regimes”, appeared to have been directly aimed at Kim Jong-un, its location could probably have been chosen better, given that the US killed over 140,000 people in Hiroshima and a further 70,000 in Nagasaki.
In comments to Sputnik, Yuzaki once again invited Trump to Hiroshima to “recognise the ‘tragic reality’ that results from the use of nuclear weapons”.
“I had the meeting with the ambassador last year to ask him to invite the president to visit Hiroshima," said Yuzaki, who has also met with the US permanent representative to the Conference on Disarmanent. "Thus, I believe the messages from a-bombed prefecture are reached to US administration,” he concluded.
