The majority of Japanese people do not expect an apology from President Obama for the Hiroshima bombing, according to a recent poll by the Japan Times.
The newspaper conducted an online survey and street interviews after the White House announced Obama’s trip, the first by a sitting US president.
Of more than 600 responders, 62 per cent said the president should not apologise and 41 per cent said he should rather make a commitment to nuclear nonproliferation, the Times reported.
This largely aligns with the White House’s description of how the heavily symbolic visit on May 27 will unfold. Instead of apologising, Obama intends his visit to “send a much more forward-looking signal about his ambition for realising the goals of a planet without nuclear weapons,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said at a Tuesday press briefing.