In a news conference on a balmy Sunday afternoon as Hiroshima’s Atomic Bomb Dome loomed in the background, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida underscored the role of the summit in sending a message of peace to the globe, bringing the curtain down on a momentous Group of Seven leaders summit.
The fanfare surrounding the event masked a meeting that, while rich in symbolism, was meager on substance as Kishida looks to pivot to domestic issues, begging the question: Can the prime minister translate his diplomatic successes into gains at home?
Pictures of world leaders laying wreaths in memory of the city’s atomic bomb victims and visiting the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park’s museum — as well as footage of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s surprise visit in Japan for the G7 meeting after a 9,000-kilometer trek — will be seared in the minds of many both in Japan and across the globe.