Rudd lays wreath at Hiroshima; 1st Western leader to visit city since bombing

Monday 09th June, 12:09 PM JST

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Fair dinkum! at 10:08 AM JST - 9th June

Aw c'mon rjd_jr, that was 70 years ago. I'm sure there are more pressing issues that need to be dealt with. Hopefully they can strike an agreement about whaling - The agreement being, no whaling in the southern oceans at all!
thepro at 10:13 AM JST - 9th June

rjd_jr: I agree.
Statistician at 10:29 AM JST - 9th June

Rudd is a very 'class act', a real credit to the Aussies. A pity there aren't a heck of a lot more politicians with his style and honesty around the world
ihope2eatwhales at 11:14 AM JST - 9th June

To Fair dinkum!, why? There is no problem with whaling.
tclh at 12:06 PM JST - 9th June

I believe that PM Rudd has a special,sincere feeling for victims of any kind.First asbestos victims ,then aboriginals now war victims... but for the rest of his abitily,we will have to wait and see.
timorborder at 03:37 PM JST - 9th June

With regard to Japanese and laying wreathes in Australia, I can think of the good and the ugly. On one hand, in commemorating the Cowra Breakout, I remember some Japanese VIP laying a wreath for both the Japanese prisoners (who tried to escape to no where) and the Australian guards who tried to stop them. I can also think of the submarine memorial in Sydney where the Japanese ambassador has done the wreath thing a couple of times. On the other hand, I also remember the old Japanese coot who tried to raise an imperial Japanese flag at the Australian war memorial (about 20 years ago). He was arrested and apparently "fell down the stairs" on the first floor of a certain police station in Canberra.
Anyway, with regard to this Hiroshima memorial thing, there are a number of issues involved. Although Kev laid a wreath, this probably has to do with raising his image in Japan. The locals up here are a bit worried that mandarin-speaking Kev is going to improve relations with China at the expense of Japan (some big Australian exporters are also worried about this). At the same time, however, it would be stupid to think that Kev is trying to distance himself from the rationale of the bombing of Hiroshima. Given the fact that the ANZAC tradition runs very deep in Australian society, Kev would not like his visit to Hiroshima to be seen as any form of apologizing to Japan.
niku at 03:45 PM JST - 9th June

fairdinkum- 70 yrs ago so what. Open your eyes and your ignorant mind
tclh at 04:48 PM JST - 9th June

I think PM Rudd understands asian culture very deeply;laying a wreath doesn't mean apology or anything ,just a recognition of disasters which war can cause.And from this base he can go on to talk about nuclear disarmament and peace .
OssanULTRA at 08:02 PM JST - 9th June

Mr Rudd, being the first and only leader to speak fluent Mandarin has been accused from all directions of being Sino-Centric and causing harm to Austalias relations with other Asian powers like Japan and India. Faced with the huge task of reparing this, he becomes the first western leader to visit Hiroshima. Absolutely brilliant course of action.

"I think PM Rudd understands asian culture very deeply;laying a wreath doesn't mean apology or anything ,just a recognition of disasters which war can cause."

This begs the question of whether Mr Rudd can appreciate that Japanese politicians visit the Yasukuni Shrine to pray for peace, not worship war criminals.
tclh at 09:08 PM JST - 9th June

I never heard any Australian PM complained anything about Yasukuni matter,only the media sometimes mentioned about some complaints from some other Asian countries.As former PM John Howard explained before , all the matters of WW2 between Japan and Australia were finished some 60 years ago.
tclh at 09:16 PM JST - 9th June

And also don't worry,Australian media ,Australian public will keep an eye on PM Rudd to make sure he gets the balance right.Maybe he stayed in China for too long before,he needs time to adjust.
smithinjapan at 09:50 PM JST - 9th June

Good job, Rudd... though I'm pretty shocked he's the FIRST leader to do this officially.
Sarge at 09:59 PM JST - 9th June

Is Rudd going to lay a wreath in Tokyo, where many more people were killed than in Hiroshima?
KenjiYamamoto at 05:39 AM JST - 10th June

i heard hiroshima and nagasaki are still radioactive sites...

may be us politicians should drop by. but they won't.
timorborder at 10:24 AM JST - 10th June

I never heard any Australian PM complained anything about Yasukuni matter,only the media sometimes mentioned about some complaints from some other Asian countries.As former PM John Howard explained before , all the matters of WW2 between Japan and Australia were finished some 60 years ago.

Just for your information, at the war crimes trials in Tokyo, Australia (whose judge was the president of the court) was all for stringing the Hirohito up. The only reason his imperial majesty did not get the gallows was that "Dug-Out" Doug (the US) decided to use existing Japanese institutions against the perceived threat of communism.