By Toma Mochizuki,
Hiroshima marked the 79th anniversary on Tuesday of its atomic bombing by the United States, with its mayor urging people to unite in prompting world leaders to shift away from nuclear deterrence amid global conflicts including Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war in the Middle East.
In the Peace Declaration, read during the annual ceremony in the Peace Memorial Park, Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui said such global tragedies seem to be "deepening distrust and fear among nations, reinforcing the public assumption that, to solve international problems, we have to rely on military force, which we should be rejecting."
"Policymakers can overcome even critical situations through resolute commitment to dialogue," the mayor said, noting that the Cold War was brought to an end through dialogue between Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, and then U.S. President Ronald Reagan.
"To extinguish the suspicion and doubt that creates conflicts, civil society must foster a circle of trust through exchange and dialogue with consideration for others," Matsui said.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who represents a constituency in Hiroshima, cautioned in his speech at the ceremony that the momentum toward a world without nuclear weapons is on the verge of reversal for the first time since the height of the Cold War.
"It is our duty as the sole country to have experienced the use of nuclear weapons in war to steadily work toward realizing a world without nuclear weapons," he said.
A moment of silence was observed at 8:15 a.m., the exact time that the nuclear bomb was dropped by the U.S. bomber Enola Gay and detonated over the city on Aug. 6, 1945, killing an estimated 140,000 people by the end of the year.
The ceremony was attended by around 50,000 people, including representatives from 109 nations and the European Union, at a time when nuclear threats have been repeatedly made by Russia in its invasion of Ukraine, while Israel's war with Hamas risks spilling into a wider conflict.
The Hiroshima city government invited Israel, widely regarded as a nuclear-armed state, alongside a call for an immediate cease-fire to the conflict in the Palestinian territory, which has drawn increasing international opposition.
But the invitation has been criticized as a double standard by some, as Russia and Belarus have been barred from the ceremony for three consecutive years over the invasion of Ukraine. The Palestinian embassy also criticized Hiroshima for not inviting Palestine to the ceremony.
During the ceremony, Izumi Nakamitsu, U.N. undersecretary general and high representative for disarmament affairs, read out a statement by U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres in which he noted, "Since last year, global mistrust and division have only deepened... some are recklessly rattling the nuclear saber once more."
"The world must stand together to condemn this unacceptable behavior. And we must find new solutions to bring disarmament to life," the statement said.
In May last year, the Group of Seven leaders held a summit in the city, making an unprecedented joint visit to the park and its museum and releasing their first-ever joint document on nuclear disarmament called the Hiroshima Vision.
But just days before the latest atomic bombing anniversary, Japan and the United States held their first ministerial meeting on extended deterrence, which includes U.S. nuclear protection provided to Japan, in Tokyo, drawing criticism from hibakusha that the move goes against nuclear abolition.
During a press conference following the ceremony, Kishida rebutted the claim, saying extended deterrence is "an extremely important means to protect the lives of the people," and that nurturing trust with the United States would help them work together toward a world without nuclear weapons.
He also expressed plans to hold a meeting in the autumn with friendly nations as a first step toward negotiating a proposed fissile material cut-off treaty, which would prohibit the further production of fissile materials for nuclear weapons.
While hibakusha groups earlier urged Kishida to join a meeting of states party to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons next year as an observer, Kishida only responded he would work toward a world without nuclear weapons.
Japan, which remains under the U.S. nuclear umbrella, is not a party to the nuclear ban treaty and instead continues to back the nonproliferation treaty.
A stream of visitors came to the park in the early morning to offer prayers and flowers, and to avoid tighter security restrictions implemented after violence broke out with demonstrators the previous year. The city limited entry into the premises between 5 a.m. and 9 a.m.
One survivor Yoshie Yokoyama came in a wheelchair to the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims, an arch-shaped monument at the park. The atomic bomb struck around eight kilometers from a factory she was working in. She was blown into the air by the blast, which led to the deaths of both of her parents as well as numerous classmates.
"It was awful, and it was terrifying as I was also a child," the 95-year-old said. "Something this disastrous is not normal."
Hiromi Azuma, who grew up in the city listening to the accounts of survivors, known as hibakusha, came to the park with her husband and 5-year-old daughter to pay respect.
"The awfulness of the bomb was not completely known (before its use), and neither was how long the painful effects would last. I believe understanding what happened back then may change one's actions," she said.
Three days after the bomb, nicknamed "Little Boy," decimated Hiroshima, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. Japan surrendered to the Allied forces six days later, marking the end of World War II.
The combined number of officially recognized survivors of the two nuclear attacks stood at 106,825 as of March this year, down by 6,824 from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. Their average age exceeded 85.
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