Biden Unlikely To Visit Nagasaki

Above, the monument marking the atomic bomb hypocenter in Nagasaki. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Kyodo News is reporting that His Fraudulency Joe Biden is "unlikely" to visit Nagasaki during his trip to Japan for the G-7 summit in May.

Perhaps that's just as well. The atomic bombings are still sensitive issues for both the U.S. and Japan.

According to Kyodo News:

U.S. President Joe Biden is not expected to visit Nagasaki when he travels to Japan for a Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima in May due to scheduling conflicts, diplomatic sources said Thursday, disappointing citizens who hoped for his trip to the atomic bomb-hit city.

Biden would have been the first sitting U.S. president to visit the southwestern Japan city, which the United States hit with an atomic bomb after dropping one on Hiroshima in August 1945 in the final days of World War II.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida hoped he and Biden could send a message to the world from the two atomic-bombed Japanese cities toward a world free of nuclear weapons, with concern growing over whether Russian President Vladimir Putin will use such destructive arms in his country's war against Ukraine, the sources said

Japan, meanwhile, has continued to arrange a visit by the G-7 leaders, including Biden, to the atomic bomb museum in Hiroshima, the sources said. If realized, it would be the first time that the G-7 heads have stopped by the museum together. 

Above, the Hiroshima Peace Museum and cenotaph (left). Photo by Armand Vaquer.

I have visited the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Museum with G-TOUR in 2004 and visited Nagasaki in 2007. Both are well worth visiting. 

To read more, go here.

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum Temporarily Closed

Above, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The coronavirus has hit Japan hard.

Months ago, it seemed that Japan was weathering the pandemic quite well and life was returning to some normalcy.

All that changed in recent weeks as the pandemic is hitting the country hard, so hard that the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum is now temporarily closed.

According to NHK:

A museum in Hiroshima that documents the 1945 atomic bombing of the city has been temporarily closed amid a surge in coronavirus cases.

The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum is one of 45 facilities in the western Japanese city that officials have decided to temporarily close to reduce personal contact.

A notice at the entrance says the museum will remain closed until January 3. But people who have already made reservations will be allowed to enter.

To read more, go here.