03-07-2025
Taoiseach Micheál Martin to visit Hiroshima on last day of Japan visit
Taoiseach Micheál Martin will visit the city of Hiroshima on the final day of his visit to Japan.
He's due to meet the city's mayor, Kazumi Matsui, and visit the Memorial Cenotaph for the Atomic Bomb victims.
Next August marks the 80th anniversary of the United States dropping a bomb on the city, immediately killing up to 70,000 people, in a bid to end World War II.
Tens of thousands more died in the radioactive aftermath of the explosion - in what was the first time an atomic weapon was dropped on a city.
Mr Martin will lay a wreath at the Peace Memorial Park, and also meet a survivor of the explosion.
He will have a private meeting with Mayor Matsui.
The US atomic bomb detonated 600m above Hiroshima, 43 seconds after having been dropped by the warplane Elona Gay, and set-off a fireball that devastated the city.
