Japan’s Hiroshima, a hub of global peace, regional economy, to host G-7 summit

By Ahmet Furkan Mercan

HIROSHIMA, Japan (AA) - One of the two nuclear-bombed cities of Japan during World War II, Hiroshima, also, the locus of world peace and the Japanese economy, is set to host this year's G-7 meeting.

It is the first time over the past seven years that Japan is hosting the G-7 summit.

The last one was hosted by then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who died due to a gunshot last year in the Ise-Shima area of the central Mie province.

Japan has hosted six G-7 summits so far -- in 1979, 1986, and 1993 in the capital Tokyo, in 2000 in Kyushu-Okinawa, in 2008 in Hokkaido, and in 2016 in Mie.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will host the leaders of G-7 member states on May 19-21 for the annual summit in Hiroshima city.

Kishida represents Hiroshima, his family's hometown, as a deputy in the National Assembly.

Choosing his hometown for the summit, Kishida wants to deliver a message of peace to the world, and aims to present a vision of a world without nuclear power in the city, where atomic bombs killed tens of thousands of people in 1945.

The US detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Aug. 6 and 9 in 1945, respectively, killing over 200,000 people. With the laws enacted after the war, with the financial support of the central government, rebuilding activities gained momentum throughout the city.

The city, where the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum was built, was proclaimed a City of Peace by the Japanese parliament in 1949.

The local government and residents of the city, who want to promote the city at the international level, work to abolish nuclear weapons.

Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui heads the international Mayors for Peace organization for the promotion of peace.

The hibakusha, the survivors of the atomic bombs, work in the peace memorial museum and host visitors. The survivors convey their hopes for a nuclear-free world to new generations as they tearfully describe their post-bomb experiences in the seminars at the museum.

- 2 world heritage sites in Hiroshima

Hiroshima, one of the strategic points linking the country's Kyushu and the Kansai regions, serves as a hub with the flow of people and goods in the Chugoku region.

The city is one of the high-skilled manufacturing cities. The Ota River, which divides Hiroshima, is a rich oyster source, with its geographical conditions turning the agriculture, fishing, and forestry sectors into natural advantages.

It also stands out locally and internationally in the automobile industry, iron and steel production, and food manufacturing.

Hiroshima, known globally as the city of peace, is also a tourism destination where mountains, rivers, and the sea coexist.

Hiroshima has two spots on the UNESCO World Heritage list -- the Atomic Bomb Dome symbolizing the horror of nuclear weapons in the city center and the Itsukushima Shrine, an example of medieval Japanese architecture on the Miyajima island, known as the "temple island," along with its torii gate.

The torii gate is one of the national symbols of Japan and is considered the symbolic gateway between the spirit realm and the human world in the Shinto belief. Shinto, a religion perhaps as old as Japan itself, is a rich blend of folklore, reverence for all things natural and the Japanese nation.

* Writing by Seda Sevencan in Istanbul.