The second Monday in August is a sign of the approaching end of summer.
In Rhode Island, the day has long been designated a holiday, not so much to provide an extra day at the beach, but in tribute to the end of World War II. Over 90,000 Rhode Islanders served, and 2,200 made the ultimate sacrifice. Victory Day honors their contribution, and with the signing of a Treaty of Peace with Japan, the achievement of a lasting legacy.
In a solemn ceremony on Saturday, the people of Nagasaki will remember the devastation and souls lost after the dropping of the second atomic bomb 80 years ago.
There are strong organizations of young people in Japan committed to carrying forward the memories of parents and grandparents who witnessed and lived through the horror of that day. The few who remain will one day be gone, but memories will persist and possibly prevail to make a better day.
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Beyond the devastation, beyond the horror of a nuclear blast that ultimately claimed 100,000 lives, and beyond even the surrender of Japan a month later that brought an end to the war, is something possibly even more powerful.
For six years after the bombing and surrender, Allied forces occupied Japan. That ended in 1951 when 48 nations gathered in San Francisco to sign the Treaty of Peace with Japan. At that time, Japan was welcomed back into the international community as a sovereign nation.
What happened four years later is the twist.
On Dec. 7, 1955, just over 10 years after the bombing of Nagasaki, and on the 14th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the cities of St. Paul, Minnesota, and Nagasaki became Sister Cities. The date was chosen as an acknowledgement to the past, and as a means to ensure a future of friendship and understanding.
Inspired by this, the following year President Dwight D. Eisenhower, stating that “people to people relationships” were the key to peace, began the sister cities program across the country.
Since that time, more than 460 sister city relationships have been established across the country between the United States and Japan, among the greatest number of sister city relationships in the world. One of the strongest and most robust exists right here in Rhode Island, between the port City of Newport and the port City of Shimoda, on the Izu peninsula.
In my view, the friendships, commerce and bridge building begun by those “people to people relationships” is not only a key to peace, but the most powerful explanation for the strong alliance today between the United States and Japan. And that is a victory well worth honoring, all the days of the year.
Steve Aveson is Honorary Consul General for Japan in Bristol, R.I. A longtime journalist with strong ties to New England, Aveson traveled the world with ABC News, The Christian Science Monitor and Inside Edition. Locally, he worked as a news anchor for WPRI TV in Providence and WBZ TV in Boston.
AloJapan.com