Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui and U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel on Thursday signed a sister park agreement between Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and the Pearl Harbor National Memorial in the U.S. state of Hawaii.
The two parks will share information necessary for the restoration of historic buildings and landscapes, tourism management and will also conduct exchange projects.
The Hiroshima park aims to pass on the tragedy of the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing of the Japanese city to future generations, while the Pearl Harbor memorial is designed to commemorate the victims of the 1941 Japanese attack on the harbor.
The signing of the agreement took place at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo.
The two parks are "places that symbolize the beginning and end of the war," Matsui said, adding that wishes for peace are now shared by the peoples of both countries.
"These parks, which were once sites of conflict, are now places of reconciliation," Emanuel said in a statement. He voiced hope that the sister park agreement will "expand the community of Americans and Japanese who visit Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima, learn their histories, and chart a better pathway forward."
In a congratulatory message, former U.S. President Barack Obama, a native of Hawaii, hailed the sister park agreement as "another historic accomplishment" following his visit to Hiroshima in 2016 — which was the first by a sitting U.S. president — and former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to Pearl Harbor later that year.
"By connecting our two peoples to our shared past, we can build a shared future grounded in peace and cooperation," Obama said.
