The Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima will kick off Friday with U.S. President Joe Biden and other leaders visiting a museum that captures the devastation caused by the U.S. atomic bombing of the city in 1945, according to the White House.
With nuclear disarmament to be among the key agenda items during the three-day summit, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has been stressing the importance of the museum visit by G-7 leaders, saying that knowing the consequences of the use of an atomic bomb is "important as a starting point" for disarmament efforts.
It will be the first time in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum's decades-long history to receive a joint visit by leaders from the G-7, which includes nuclear powers Britain, France and the United States.
Atomic bomb survivors hope the museum tour will lead to substantive discussions toward ridding the world of nuclear weapons instead of merely serving as a formality.
According to the White House, Biden, who will become the second sitting U.S. president to set foot in Hiroshima, is planning to visit the museum at the city's Peace Memorial Park with other G-7 leaders, and also participate in a wreath-laying and tree-planting ceremony.
The details of the museum tour are not yet available. But Japan has been making arrangements to take G-7 leaders to the "permanent exhibition" section that focuses on conveying the realities of the devastation caused by the world's first use of a nuclear weapon in war, according to a government source.
The museum, located near ground zero, holds about 100,000 relics, photos and other items in its collection, ranging from children's clothing to organic matter, including hair. About 500 items are on display in the main building.
In 2016, then U.S. President Barack Obama visited the western Japan city, which was reduced to ash following the detonation of an atomic bomb dropped on Aug. 6, 1945. It killed an estimated 140,000 people by the end of 1945.
A second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, southwestern Japan, on Aug. 9, and Japan surrendered six days later, prompting the end of World War II.
When Obama stopped by Hiroshima, a trip made on the occasion of the previous G-7 summit in Japan, he delivered a speech and met with representatives of atomic bomb survivors at the park.
He also visited the museum, but only viewed some symbolic exhibits that were brought to the lobby, with his stay lasting for about 10 minutes. Biden was vice president during the Obama administration.
Kishida, who represents a constituency in Hiroshima, has been pitching his vision of a world without nuclear weapons and is hoping the G-7 gathering will help inject a fresh impetus into global nuclear disarmament efforts at a time when fears over the use of the destructive weapons linger amid Russia's war in Ukraine.
But depending on how long the G-7 leaders will stay at the museum and what items will be shown, Kishida could face criticism that the event was just a political stunt.
The museum completed its third renovation in 2019, aiming to give more weight to individual experiences of the tragedy.
Toshiyuki Mimaki, head of the Hiroshima Prefectural Confederation of A-bomb Sufferers Organizations, stressed the need to learn the "horrors" of nuclear weapons by "thoroughly" touring the museum's main building.
"Based on that, I think it is the role of Japan as the chair country to spur discussions toward a nuclear-free world," the 81-year-old added.
Related coverage:
Biden to urge importance of nuke disarmament at G-7 summit: spokesman
U.N. chief urges no-use nuclear weapons policy ahead of G-7 summit
G-7 to vow at Hiroshima summit to bolster NPT regime for disarmament
