The article "Hiroshima to raze A-bombed buildings" in the Dec. 15 edition moved me a great deal. Now that the two buildings are an impressive 106 years old, they are too old to last without preservation work.
However, it is also true that they have ever witnessed and listened to the cries of the A-bomb victims, so they are voiceless survivors of the atom bomb. As such, they should not be demolished as long as arms races still plague the Earth.
The movement to push for true preservation is realistic and crucial. Hiroshima Prefecture and the national government should devote more funds toward saving the buildings, so that their legacy can be handed down to future generations at home and overseas alike.
Given that the human survivors inevitably will pass away, such structures, victims' belongings, photographs and other private items, gathered as alternatives, live much longer.
Then they will tell what happen in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, and they will continue to convey the message that nuclear weapons should be abolished immediately.
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.