He was stationed 5,600 miles away from Japan, in Nuremberg, Germany, in August 1945, and understands clearly the gravity of the nuclear assault the U.S. waged.
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The anniversary comes at a time when Japan is divided over Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s push to pass legislation that will expand the country’s military role around the world.
Sky News stated that there have been peaceful protests held in front of the Atomic Bomb Dome, to raise awareness of the anniversary.
Now a replica of the original watch and other artifacts found after the bombs hit Hiroshima and, three days later, Nagasaki, are on display until August. 16 at American University in Washington.
People around the world have been using the NukeMap tool to input their city and see the devastating effect it would have had in wake of the bomb’s 70th anniversary. The footage shows graphic details of the injuries caused by the Nagasaki bombing, which killed around 70,000 people.
It’s estimated that 9 countries have a combined 16,300 nuclear weapons, all of them more powerful than the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
“People of the world, especially leaders of nuclear armed nations, please come to Hiroshima to contemplate peace in this, a bombed city”, said Kazumi Matsui, Hiroshima’s mayor.
US ambassador Caroline Kennedy and representatives from more than 100 countries, including Britain, France and Russian Federation, attended the ceremony. “I feel bad for them”.
His experience as a survivor of the world’s first nuclear attack led him to spend much of the past 70 years to “reflect on how humans could make peace”, said Tsunoi, who just celebrated his 90th birthday.
Chisako Takeoka, who was 17 when the bomb dropped, told CNN she remembered the rivers through Hiroshima filled with burned bodies and the necessary removal of her mother’s eye, which she said had been blown out of its socket by the explosion.
According to a report by the Greenpeace and a survey conducted by the US bombing survey commissioned by President Truman, the bombing could very well be averted because Japan had already lost the war and agreed to surrender.
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The Global Times tabloid, which is published under the People’s Daily newspaper, the mouthpiece of the Communist Party, conceded in an editorial that it was “understandable” for Japan to recall the bombing.
