Along with another atomic bomb dropped by the US three days prior on Hiroshima, the event led to Japan’s unconditional surrender in WWII. “If there is no war, there will be no nuclear bombs”.
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On this day (August 6) in 1945 – six years into World War II and four years after the bombing of Pearl Harbor – the U.S. dropped a uranium bomb nicknamed “Little Boy” on Hiroshima, Japan. Thousands of people of Japan attended the commemoration ceremony.
Each of these bombs has eight times the killing power of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
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. “They need to believe that such a goal is possible”, he said. A ban on nuclear weapons is seven decades overdue. The recent agreement negotiated by the several countries with Iran “puts nuclear weapons in the forefront of political debate after years of being an afterthought in the minds of most Americans”, he said.
Abe, a strident nationalist, has also been criticized at home for his efforts to expand the role of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces, changes that could open the door to putting troops into combat for the first time since the end of the war.
This museum representation of a nuclear bombing shows burned skin peeling and hanging from hands August. 6 at the Peace Museum in Hiroshima, Japan.
The ceremony in Hiroshima was attended by U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy, U.S. Under Secretary for Arms Control and worldwide Security Rose Gottemoeller, as well as representatives from more than 100 other countries.
In Tokyo, the U.S. Embassy warned that the anniversary was “a traditional day of protests” against the embassy and told American citizens to avoid demonstrations or other large gatherings. “We have been tasked with conveying the inhumanity of nuclear weapons, across generations and borders”, he added.
Thousands of survivors are still being treated at Japanese Red Cross Society hospitals for long-term health effects, with almost two-thirds of deaths among them linked to cancer, the worldwide Committee of the Red Cross, or the ICRC, said. He pledged to promote the cause through worldwide conferences to be held in Hiroshima later this month.
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As one of the remaining survivors who have seen firsthand the destruction humanity can do, he said, he feels obligated to speak out. “So, we’re at a point where things are not quiet on the nuclear front at all”.
