Museum Shop Stops Selling Bomb Earrings
The National Atomic Museum has decided not to sell souvenir earrings with tiny silver replicas of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan amid international protest on the 54th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima.
“The foundation [that operates the museum] just decided since it’s a sensitive day and there’s so much concern, it just wasn’t worth the bad feelings,” museum director Jim Walther said Friday.
Walther couldn’t say if the decision was permanent, but added there are no plans to restock the items.
The earrings--shaped like “Little Boy,” which was dropped on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, and “Fat Man,” which was dropped on Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945--had drawn protests from Gensuikyo, a anti-nuclear group in Japan.
Group spokeswoman Naomi Kishimoto said Thursday: “It’s not the sort of thing you should be hanging from your ears or using to decorate your desk.”
The Japanese group had learned of the earrings on the museum’s Web site, which also was revised to remove mention of them.
Museum store manager Tony Sparks said the earrings, which sold for $20 a pair, were the store’s most popular jewelry item.
They were sold out Friday morning, he said, adding that the customer orders received before the decision was made will be filled.
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