Kyodo-Gov'ts Considering Biden Visit To Nagasaki During 2023 G7 Summit

Japan's Kyodo news reporting that the gov'ts of Japan and the United States are considering President Joe Biden visit to the southwestern city of Nagasaki during the course of the 2023 G7 summit due to take place in Hiroshima, Japan from 19-21 May.

• If the visit goes ahead it would be the first to the city by a sitting US President. Towards the end of the Second World War, Nagasaki was hit by a US atomic bomb on 9 Aug 1945, three days after a similar attack on Hiroshima.
• In May 2016, Barack Obama became the first sitting US President to visit Hiroshima alongside then Japanese PM, the late Shinzo Abe. Incumbent Japanese PM Fumio Kishida represents a constituency in the city of Hiroshima.
• Obama's visit was seen as an important sign of the strength of the post-war US-Japan alliance, and a similar visit by Biden in 2023 would likely serve to further reinforce this. Comes at a time when Japanese concerns about security risks posed by North Korea and China in the Indo-Pacific remain heightened.