This Global Week Ahead ends with a 2-day meeting of G7 leaders in Ise-Shima Japan. According to the Government of Japan’s website, G7 leaders will discuss:

Aides to President Obama also set up, at least half a year ago, a visit to nearby Hiroshima, Japan. That visit happens this Friday – in advance of the official G7 visit to Shima. The President’s visit will make him the first sitting U.S. head of state to set foot in the city devastated by an atomic bomb (in August 1945). 

The U.S. State Department hopes Obama’s Friday, May 27th Hiroshima visit will become part of his diplomatic legacy. It will symbolize his pursuit of a nuclear-free world and the maturation of Japan-U.S. relations.

As a backdrop to these important G7 prime minister meetings, be aware. The Shima Peninsula (????, Shima Hant?) is home to Japan’s most sacred Shinto religious shrines, the Ise Shrines. 

The peninsula has been designated as Ise-Shima National Park given its natural beauty and cultural importance. Shima has evolved into a resort area popular with Japan’s nearby urban populations in the cities of Nagoya and Osaka. 

Trees and stones have long been objects of deep devotion in Japan. Originally there were no shrine buildings at sacred locales like Shima. Instead a tree, forest, a large boulder, or a mountain — festooned with ropes — would be the focus of worship. 

Nature worship was then ported to a set of buildings. The Ise Grand Shinto nature shrine is one of the grandest. It consists of two groups of wood buildings — Naiku and Geku.