President Obama to Hiroshima

Now, the news of President Obama's visit of Hiroshima is the talk of the town not only in Hiroshima but throughout Japan today. This is Nathan Shiga and I intend to write a new more episodes on this subjects from now to his visit of the city after the Ise-Shima Summit on May 27.

Personally, I lived long enough in the States to know how this news is received among the American people. I know how the Obama administration has arranged visits of officials to Hiroshima to sound out reactions at home.

Now that Mr. Obama himself is paying a visit in his presidential capacity, the message is clear in the mind of the Japanese that the United States is about to acknowledge and face the historical fact that two atomic bombs were dropped, for whatever motivations, to cause staggering sufferings of innocent citizens.

President Obama is a Nobel laureate and intends to speak in the name of peace for the world without nuclear weapons and will reportedly offer flowers and visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. Details are not yet ironed out whether he will meet A-bomb victims.

President Obama is obviously determined to put aside the argument over pros and cons of atomic bombing, drum up the movement for nuclear disarmament and leave a political legacy behind.

Despite opinions voiced among either side of the political camps in the US, the president's visit of Hiroshima nonetheless amounts to a clear expression of apology by the country itself. Whether or not the A-bombs were an absolutely necessity to defeat Japan is forever an open question as Japan was doomed then - with or without the deadly bombs. Why a deadly blow on the unconscious man? Well, it's a history that can't be retold.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is scheduled to accompany President Obama to Hiroshima. (Nathan Shiga)