Amid the ashes of his hometown destroyed by an atomic bomb, teenager Kazuzo Tagashira started to grow roses and watched them start blooming across the bombed-out ruins here. Tagashira decided to devote his entire life to raising and breeding the roses in the hopes that world peace would similarly bloom in the future.

On Thursday, May 26, the first day of the G7 Summit, Mr. and Mrs. Abe accompanied the world’s leaders and their spouses on a visit to the Shinto spiritual origin of Japan known as Ise Jingu (Ise Grand Shrine) [...] to emphasize Japan’s spiritual core at a shrine noted for its natural beauty and not national politics like that of Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo that rattles nerves throughout Northeast Asia. 

U.S. President Barack Obama’s historic visit to Hiroshima last Friday was the result of careful diplomatic staging by U.S. and Japanese government officials, who had it in mind since Obama’s last visit to the city in 2009. [...] The biggest obstacle was U.S. public opinion. [...] The shift in opinion provided a context for Obama’s Hiroshima visit, the first-ever such trip by a sitting U.S. president.

President Obama had made it abundantly clear in advance of his trip that he would not be issuing an apology when he paid his respects at the cenotaph to the thousands who died when the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, 71 years ago. [...] "The mainstream in Japanese society accept Obama's visit as something that he wanted to do personally, but staying within the constraints of his own domestic policies," 

The Embassy of Japan will co-host a photography exhibition titled 'Hiroshima, City of Peace'  in association with the city of Hiroshima, Oman-Japan Friendship Association (OJFA), and the Hiroshima-Oman Friendship Association, from November 30 to December 6, in the main atrium of Muscat Grand Mall. 

Israel has been forced to issue a formal apology to Japan over offensive comments posted on Facebook by its head of online public diplomacy. The apology followed a complaint by the Japanese ambassador to Israel, Hideo Sato, after senior government official Daniel Seaman disparaged commemorations for the victims of the 1945 atomic bombs, causing a wave of protests in Japan.

President Barack Obama will have to deftly navigate an atomic minefield if he decides to visit Hiroshima, the city destroyed by the first atomic bomb 65 years ago, during his visit to Japan later this year.

For the first time since the A-bomb was dropped on Japan, ending World War II and killing more than 100,000 people, the United States sent a representative to the annual memorial at Hiroshima.