{"id":54118,"date":"2025-07-05T06:27:32","date_gmt":"2025-07-05T14:27:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/?p=54118"},"modified":"2025-07-05T06:27:32","modified_gmt":"2025-07-05T14:27:32","slug":"hiroshima-and-nagasaki-mayors-criticize-trump-for-hailing-bomb-blasts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2025\/07\/05\/hiroshima-and-nagasaki-mayors-criticize-trump-for-hailing-bomb-blasts\/","title":{"rendered":"Hiroshima and Nagasaki Mayors Criticize Trump for Hailing Bomb Blasts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reprinted with permission from Greg Mitchell\u2019s newsletter Oppenheimer: From Hiroshima to Hollywood<\/a>.<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Quick post here to report that Trump <\/strong>is getting blowback from his recent reference to Hiroshima and Nagasaki.<\/p>\n

The mayor of Hiroshima, for example, has invited Trump to visit the city after his comments comparing the atomic bombings of 1945 to his own decision to strike Iran\u2019s nuclear facilities.<\/a> \u201cThat hit ended the war. I don\u2019t want to use an example of Hiroshima, I don\u2019t want to use an example of Nagasaki, but that was essentially the same thing,\u201d he said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Of course, for one thing, many (including yours truly) have argued that the atomic bombings did not \u201cend the war\u201d or in any case did not play the most pivotal role.<\/p>\n

The remark, in any event, provoked an angry outcry from survivors in Japan who accused him of trying to justify the use of nuclear weapons against a civilian population. One wonders what Trump\u2019s next move would have been if Iran\u2019s leaders had not joined in a ceasefire after the bunker busting with the enormous, if \u201cconventional,\u201d bombs. The U.S. has \u201csmall\u201d nuclear bunker busters as well.<\/p>\n

From the English-language Japan Times<\/em>:<\/p>\n

“It seems to me that he does not fully understand the reality of the atomic bombings, which, if used, take the lives of many innocent citizens, regardless of whether they were friend or foe, and threaten the survival of the human race,” Mayor Kazumi Matsui told reporters.<\/em><\/p>\n

“I wish that President Trump would visit the bombed area to see the reality of the atomic bombing and feel the spirit of Hiroshima, and then make statements,” Kazumi said.<\/em><\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s comments prompted anger from survivors and a small demonstration in Hiroshima. Last week, the city’s assembly passed a motion condemning remarks that justify the use of atomic bombs.<\/em><\/p>\n

Atomic bomb survivors’ group Nihon Hidankyo won the Nobel Peace Prize last year, and while accepting the prize, called on countries to abolish the weapons.<\/em><\/p>\n

NHK on the Nagasaki response:<\/p>\n

Suzuki Shiro, the mayor of western Japan’s Nagasaki City, told reporters that the use of nuclear weapons is “unacceptable” under any circumstances, given the tragic and inhumane consequences of the 1945 atomic bombings.<\/em><\/p>\n

The mayor said he does not understand what Trump meant by the comments, but said that if they were aimed at justifying the atomic bomb attacks, Nagasaki would express its profound regret as one of the affected cities.<\/em><\/p>\n

Suzuki said that against the backdrop of serious international situations, conveying the realities of the atomic bombings is essential, so that people will understand the inhumanity of nuclear weapons. He invited Trump to the city.<\/em><\/p>\n

I should note that in my new film we are reminded that after the much-covered visit to Hiroshima by Barack Obama \u2013 the first ever by a U.S. president while in office \u2013 he did not<\/em> travel on to Nagasaki.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve mentioned previously<\/strong> that my new award-winning film<\/a> with much of its focus on nuclear dangers today will start streaming, and screening on TV, from PBS on July 12. This week the companion e-book with the same title has been published: \u201cThe Atomic Bowl: Football at Ground Zero \u2013 and Nuclear Peril Today<\/a>.\u201d It\u2019s just $5.79 and includes previously unpublished stills and material from the film and much more. Read more here<\/a>. Thanks.<\/p>\n

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Thanks for reading Oppenheimer and the Legacy of His Bomb ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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