While his first visit to Japan, President Obama mentioned a possibility of his visit to Hiroshima and/or Nagasaki during his tenure in office, which reminded me of my trip to Hiroshima with my American friend 8 years ago.
The following is from my journal right after the trip.
I asked Glee (my American friend) if she got a gist of what he had said. "Yeah, I think so. But it was a war..." The situation must have been very uncomfortable for her, I guess...
I felt sorry for her as I knew she had a pure mind as a human being and that's why she wanted so eagerly to visit Genbaku Dome as an American citizen .
I have a similar experience. My mom and I visited the Pearl Harbor Memorial in Hawaii several years ago. Being surrounded by many Americans, it was a very uncomfortable atmosphere for Japanese (just 2 of us there) listening to narration about how they had been attacked and interviews of those who had survived. I remember I felt a deep conflict between the US and Japan.
Genbaku (A-bomb) Dome, which used be the Prefectural Industry Building, stands there as a symbol of disaster for more than 50 years to let the whole world know what exactly happened at the end of World War Ⅱ. We took several pictures there. Glee told me that it was a good part of Japan to keep this kind of thing as a witness of war history, although the city made such a rapid recovery on the other hand.
By and large we Japanese have a favorable impression of President Obama. This article is a good example. (http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20081106a3.html)
Another good example is a scare craw I found near our house. The title is "A Friend of President Obama." Isn't he cute?
Can he make it come true?
Yes, he can!!