Hiroshima commemorates 81st anniversary of atomic bombing, mayor calls for end to nuclear deterrence
Select a version of the text written from a presumed ideological perspective. This is not the original text, but a hypothetical version — how someone with that viewpoint might have phrased it. Tapping the current version again will return to the original or select cleaned version.
Around 50,000 participants gathered in Hiroshima to mark the 81st anniversary of the 1945 atomic bombing, with officials urging nuclear disarmament and warning against the justification of nuclear weapons.
Hiroshima held its annual remembrance ceremony on Thursday, marking 81 years since the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the city. About 50,000 attendees, including representatives from roughly 120 countries, gathered at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park for a minute of silence at 8:15 a.m., the exact time the bomb was released.
Mayor Kazumi Matsui used the occasion to criticize the continued reliance on nuclear deterrence, saying that downplaying the inhumanity of nuclear weapons “risk cycles of violent retaliation that could ultimately result in another Hiroshima or Nagasaki.” He urged citizens to learn from history and take action toward a world without nuclear arms.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, attending the memorial for the first time in her role, pledged a “realistic approach” to achieving a world where nuclear weapons are never used, within the United Nations framework for non-proliferation. Her government, which has expressed support for nuclear deterrence, is expected to review Japan’s post-war three non-nuclear principles later this year.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, in a written statement, called the bombing “a lesson of Hiroshima” and emphasized the need to make the threat or use of nuclear weapons “unthinkable,” urging dialogue and cooperation over division.
The ceremony also highlighted the dwindling number of survivors, now numbering just over 91,000 with an average age above 86, and their concerns that fading memories could weaken public resolve against nuclear weapons.