Prime Minister Writes "Hoping for lasting peace" in Message Notebook

After attending the Peace Memorial Ceremony on August 6, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi toured the Peace Memorial Museum. Unlike typical talkative prime ministers, he viewed the exhibits virtually in silence.

The Prime Minister toured the museum with Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry Chikara Sakaguchi, guided by Museum Director Minoru Hataguchi and Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba. He listened silently to Director Hataguchi's explanations, sometimes nodding. He stared at a panorama recreating the hypocenter and intently watched the video in the background. Standing in front of the "Stone steps with a human shadow" that had been bathed in the heat ray, he muttered, "Someone was on this steps..."

After the rushed tour of a little over 20 minutes, the Prime Minister wrote, "Hoping for enduring peace" in the Message Notebook. Drawing from his suit pocket a gold-colored paper crane, he carefully pulled out one of its wings and then the other to spread them, and then laid it on the stand.

Director Hataguchi later recalled, "My impression was that more than listening to the explanation, he was lost in his thoughts, absorbed in the world the exhibits took him to. It seemed to me his position as the bearer of national policy was behind his earnest wish to understand the reality of the atomic bombing."

(caption) (from front row left) Prime Minister Koizumi, Mayor Akiba, and Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry Sakaguchi listen to the explanation of Museum Director Hataguchi (left).