Kerry in Japan for landmark Hiroshima visit
John Kerry and other G7 foreign ministers have begun two days of talks on global hotspot issues in Hiroshima
John Kerry and other G7 foreign ministers have begun two days of talks on global hotspot issues in Hiroshima, where the first ever visit to the atomic-bombed city by a US secretary of state is overshadowing the broader agenda.
Kerry's trip is seen as possibly paving the way for Barack Obama to become the first serving US president to journey to the thriving metropolis next month when he visits Japan for the Group of Seven summit.
The Hiroshima meeting includes top diplomats from nuclear-armed Britain and France, as well as Canada, Germany, Italy, host Japan and also the European Union.
The gathering is part of the run-up to the G7's rotating annual leaders' gathering, scheduled this year from May 26-27 in the Ise-Shima region between Tokyo and Osaka.
Kerry arrived earlier Sunday at a US military base west of Hiroshima from Afghanistan after having also made stops in Iraq and Bahrain.
The US secretary of state, Britain's Philip Hammond, France's Jean-Marc Ayrault and other ministers plan to discuss pressing issues including the Middle East, the migration crisis, the conflict in Ukraine and terrorism.
Host Japan also hopes to highlight other concerns, such as rising territorial tensions in the South China Sea where China and some Southeast Asian nations have locked horns, and North Korea's nuclear sabre-rattling.
But what has captured the imagination of the Japanese public is the location and what they hope will be greater understanding of their staunch anti-nuclear stance as the only country to suffer atomic attacks.
Japanese foreign minister Fumio Kishida, who represents Hiroshima in parliament, also hopes to issue a "Hiroshima Declaration" at the meeting to promote nuclear disarmament.
Kerry and the other ministers are scheduled to visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, which houses the ruins of the iconic domed building gutted by the blast, and an accompanying museum.
The first American bomb on August 6, 1945, killed 140,000 people in Hiroshima, including survivors of the explosion who died soon after from severe radiation exposure. Three days later another blast killed some 74,000 people in Nagasaki.