Former head of Hiroshima peace museum dies

Akihiro Takahashi, an atomic bomb survivor who later served as head of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, died of heart failure on Wednesday. He was 80.

Takahashi was born in Hiroshima in 1931. He was outside his junior high school, 1.4 kilometers from Ground Zero, when the bomb was dropped on the city in 1945.

He became head of the peace museum in 1979. During his 4-year tenure, Takahashi served as a guide to a number of visiting foreign dignitaries, including Pope John Paul II.
After leaving that post, he continued to speak about his experience as a "hibakusha" and repeatedly sent letters to US President Barack Obama urging him to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Takahashi met UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in August 2010 when the UN chief visited the museum on the 65 anniversary of the bombing.

One month later, he was appointed the government's special envoy to promote a nuclear-free world.

Wednesday, November 02, 2011 16:39 +0900 (JST)