The Manhattan Engineer District estimated that there were 255,000 people living in Hiroshima before the blast, which it says killed 66,000 people and injured 69,000 more.
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In Kuala Lumpur, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Hiroshima is a “powerful reminder (that) underscores the importance of the agreement we reached with Iran to reduce the possibility of more nuclear weapons”.
It was the first time a nuclear weapon had been used in war.
Sunao Tsuboi, an engineering student at Hiroshima University, was on his way to class less than a kilometre away from ground zero when the bomb exploded.
“Abe wants to normalise the status of his country, but without a full retrospection over Japan’s war crimes”, it said.
Public Radio global created a simulator of sorts to make the damage relative to those who were unfamiliar with the destruction the bomb caused 70 years ago.
Prime Minister Abe, who in a speech at the ceremony called for abolishing nuclear weapons, answered his critics by arguing that the legislation was essential to ensure Japan’s safety.
Thursday marks 70 years since the United States dropped the first of two atomic bombs on Japan, ultimately ending World World II.
The memorial was witnessed by the U.S. ambassador to Japan, Caroline Kennedy, who was only the second U.S. envoy to attend such a commemoration.
Children, elderly survivors and delegates representing 100 countries were in attendance with many placing flowers in front of the cenotaph at Peace Memorial Park in downtown Hiroshima. My father also went on to co-found the Nuclear Threat Initiative with former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn, which is funded by many prominent, worldwide philanthropists.
“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.
The US demonstrated unprecedented power when it dropped the atomic bombs.
In response, proponents of Japan’s pacifist constitution have organized protests around the country.
In the UK, the current military nuclear weapon system, Trident, is often criticised as being too expensive to maintain and unnecessary in its mission to keep world peace by some politicians and political parties.
Abe is now trying to reinterpret, and eventually revise, Article 9 of that constitution, the part that renounces Japan’s right to engage in war.
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While they didn’t live through those events, young people in Hiroshima have been commemorating the 70-year anniversary in some heart-wrenching ways.
