With the solemn tolling of a bell, the city observed a minute’s silence at 11.02am, the minute the US B-29 bomber Bockscar dropped its terrifying and deadly payload on August 9 1945.
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Mr Abe said that Japan, as the only country to experience nuclear attacks, would take the lead in realising a world without atomic weapons.
He guaranteed that Japan would keep on maintaining its long-held standards: not creating, having or permitting atomic weapons on Japanese region.
Japan marked the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki that claimed tens of hundreds of lives in one of many remaining chapters of World Struggle II.
An initial draft did not include the word “apology”, some media reports have said, which would probably anger China and South Korea, where bitter memories of Japan’s sometimes brutal past occupation and colonisation run deep.
Per Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, those three principles are, “not possessing, not producing and not permitting the introduction of nuclear weapons, in line with Japan’s Peace Constitution”.
Speaking to the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square, Francis recalled the “horror and repulsion” aroused by the twin bombings of Nagasaki on August 9 1945, and Hiroshima, three days earlier.
The prime minister’s approval ratings have also dropped since the legislation was introduced, and an Asahi Shimbun poll at the time of the vote showed 56 percent opposed to the bill, with 26 percent in favor, the Monitor noted.
Addressing the ceremony at the Peace Park, Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue drew applause when calling for careful deliberation of the legislation now before the Parliament.
Meanwhile, protesters, including relatives of atomic bombing victims, said Abe’s security bills will jeopardize the country’s pacifist constitution that has safeguarded peace for 70 years.
Japan, “through its colonial rule and aggression, caused tremendous damage and suffering to the people of many countries, particularly to those of Asian nations”, Murayama said.
He concluded: “With war one always loses”. The changes would allow them to engage in combat – in defence of an ally which comes under attack – for the first time since the war.
“We have been tasked with conveying the inhumanity of nuclear weapons, across generations and borders”, he told the crowd. The IBTimes notes that the more than 70,000 who died in the bombing included 8,500 of the cathedral’s 12,000 parishioners, decimating the largest Christian community in Japan.
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The memorial was witnessed by Caroline Kennedy, United States ambassador to Japan who was the only second American envoy to attend such commemoration.
