G7 headquarters, Hiroshima is symbolic of the effects of war

The memory of the first atomic bomb to be dropped on a city is not only preserved in Hiroshima, it is revered as a lesson for humanity. But why did the US government choose Hiroshima as a target? Firstly, for being a city dear to the Japanese. The local military importance and the fact that the city was quite populous also weighed in the decision. Hiroshima is a port and had over 300,000 inhabitants at the time. A museum in the city shows the horror of what happened. First there was the explosion of the atomic bomb. With very rare exceptions, anyone within a radius of 2 kilometers died. Afterwards, the fires turned into a fiery inferno that lasted 4 hours. And there was also a radioactive rain. On site, the few photos from that day are shocking. There are wounded, with terrible burns. Hiroshima had few doctors and nurses, and almost all of them died in the explosion. There were no drugs or anesthetics. The suffering of the survivors was intense. Hiroshima’s military areas were far from the city center. Dropping the bomb on the city was intended to kill as many civilians as possible. With a country completely involved in war, with so many men fighting, these people were basically women, children and the elderly. For the Japanese, Hiroshima became the supreme symbol of the Second World War, which, by the way, for them, is seen as the war against the United States. At a time when Russia and North Korea are insinuating threats of the use of atomic bombs, Hiroshima was chosen to host the G7, as living proof of the death, cruelty and the closest that human beings have come to the idea of ​​what the apocalypse is . In an interview with Agência Brasil, the Japanese ambassador to Brazil, Hayashi Teiji, stated that the choice of the city to host the event is related to the current historical moment. “We are in the midst of the negative effects of ship disasters, the international crisis over the Russian invasion of Ukraine and, therefore, our Prime Minister [Fumio Kishida] decided to chair the G7 summit in Hiroshima to talk about the international problems and challenges we are facing today”, he pointed out. For Teiji, “Hiroshima is an “iconic city about peace and also about [os efeitos das] nuclear weapons”.

Agência Brasil