As thousands of people gathered in Japan to honor the 71st anniversary of the United States bombing of Hiroshima, the city’s mayor called on world leaders to visit the site.
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Matsui said Obama’s words show that the president was touched by “the spirit of Hiroshima” and its refusal to accept nuclear weapons.
The mayor also cautioned Prime Minister Shinzo Abe against revising Japan’s war-renouncing constitution to give more power to the Japanese military.
A second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9 that year, and Japan surrendered six days later, ending the war.
The annual ceremony took place in front of a monument at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, with some 300 participants attending, including atomic bomb survivors and officials of the South Korean consulate general in Hiroshima.
In March, there were a total of 174,080 hibakushas in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, compared to 372,264 in 1980, and their average age was 80.86 years.
The memorial ceremony was marked by a peace bell’s sounding at 8.15 a.m. local time, exactly the same time the atomic explosion hit the city 71 years ago.
While visiting both of these Japanese cities as a young man touring Japan by bicycle on a year off from college, I made the decision to prepare for medical school.
Hiroshima Bombings: Aug. 6, 1945 The twisted wreckage of a theatre, located 800 metres from the epicentre of the atomic explosion at Hiroshima.
“We will continue to make efforts toward a world without nuclear weapons”, Abe said as quoted by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.
“I firmly believe that with the efforts of the worldwide community and the good will of people like you who have gathered here today we will one day finally achieve our aim of eliminating all nuclear weapons in the world”.
“We want to raise awareness and motivate folks to get involved in taking action for peace”, said Bethann Morgan, a Quaker from Furlong participating in Saturday’s vigil.
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Unfortunately, the threat of nuclear weapons is still all too real. It is time to abolish nuclear weapons by 2020, the 75th anniversary of Hiroshima Remembrance Day. “The nine states that have nuclear weapons must meet their obligations and eliminate their nuclear arsenals.The suffering inflicted on Hiroshima and Nagasaki requires nothing less”.
