Atomic bomb survivors and activists gave a cautious welcome to the Group of Seven leaders' historic Hiroshima Peace Park visit on Friday and the summit being held in the city, with some hoping that the events will serve as a turning point in efforts to achieve a world without nuclear weapons.
G7 leaders came together for the first time as one to visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, where they spent around 40 minutes and met a survivor, while also offering flowers at a cenotaph to victims of the atomic bombing in the peace park. The attack killed some 140,000 people in the city by the end of 1945.
"It felt like a dream come true," said Keiko Ogura, 85, after meeting the leaders at the museum and urging them to experience the reality of the bombing "through my eyes and my heart."