While observers view such a visit as improbable given the political risks, the mayors’ appeal highlights growing concern over the erosion of the nuclear taboo, a concern echoed in the letter’s warning about rising global tensions and the dwindling number of hibakusha, or atomic bomb survivors.
Kazumi Matsui, mayor of Hiroshima, and his Nagasaki counterpart, Shiro Suzuki, made the request in a letter dated Friday and sent to the US embassy in Tokyo.
“Eighty years have passed since the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the end of World War II, and today we are seeing deepening confrontation and divisions among the international community, as warfare continues in various parts of the world,” the letter said.
“This critical situation has greatly shaken the humanitarian norm in the international community that ‘nuclear weapons must never be used’, heightening the risk of another nuclear weapon being used.”
With the number of survivors dwindling each year, time was running out for the world’s leaders to hear the voices of the hibakusha, the mayors said.
