Japan this week marks 80 years since the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, bringing World War II to an end. For the first time, Hiroshima has opened its memorial ceremony to all countries, including representatives from Taiwan and the Palestinian Authority.
The US bomber Enola Gay dropped the first bomb on Hiroshima on 6 August 1945. Nicknamed "Little Boy", it exploded about 600 metres above the city, with a force equal to 15,000 tonnes of TNT.
Tens of thousands died instantly, while others succumbed to injuries or illness in the weeks, months and years that followed.
Three days later the US dropped a second bomb, dubbed "Fat Man", on the southern city of Nagasaki, killing 74,000 people.
The attacks remain the only time atomic bombs have been used in wartime.
The twin bombings dealt the final blow to imperial Japan, which surrendered on 15 August, 1945, bringing an end to World War II.
New faces at the ceremonies
Eighty years on, representatives from 120 countries and regions – plus the European Union – were to attend the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on Wednesday.
Unlike in previous years, Hiroshima did not select and invite foreign representatives. Instead, it notified all countries and regions that the event would take place.
This allowed the city to reach out to governments Japan does not formally recognise, such as Taiwan and Palestine, both of which are expected to attend for the first time. Belarus is also set to join.
Nuclear powers including Russia, China and Pakistan will not be present.
"The existence of (political) leaders who want to strengthen their military power to resolve conflicts, including by possessing nuclear weapons, makes it difficult to achieve world peace," Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui said last week, referring to the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Matsui also urged US President Donald Trump last month to visit Hiroshima, after he compared the recent airstrikes against Iran to the atomic bombings of 1945.
"It seems to me that he doesn't fully grasp the reality of atomic bombings, which, if used, cost the lives of many innocent citizens, whether friend or foe, and threaten the survival of humanity," the mayor stressed at the time.
In 2016, Barack Obama became the first sitting US president to visit Hiroshima. He offered no apology for the attack, but embraced survivors and called for a world free of nuclear weapons.
Matsui has made a point of sending letters to leaders from around the globe, regularly imploring them to stop nuclear testing, abolish nuclear weapons and visit the cities that experienced the bombs first hand.
Survivors carry message of peace
Survivors and their supporters have become some of the loudest and most powerful voices opposing nuclear weapons, including meeting world leaders to press their case.
The Japanese anti-nuclear group Nihon Hidankyo urges states to draw on the testimonies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors, known as "hibakusha."
Last year the grassroots movement won the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize, speaking up for those who battled decades of physical and psychological trauma.
In 2019, Pope Francis met several hibakusha in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, decrying the "unspeakable horror" and calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons.
In the centre of Hiroshima, the ruins of a building topped with the metal skeleton of a dome stand is a reminder of the horror of the attack.
"It's important that many people gather in this atomic bombed city because wars continue" around the world, insists Toshiyuki Mimaki, co-chair of Nihon Hidankyo.
"I hope foreign representatives will visit the Peace Memorial Museum and understand what happened" beneath the mushroom cloud, said Mimaki.
Passing on the memory of the hibakusha and the lessons learned from the disaster is a growing challenge for the organisation, with the average age of survivors now 86.
"I believe the global trend toward a world without nuclear weapons will continue. The younger generation is working hard to achieve it," Kunihiko Sakuma, 80, who was nine months old at the time of the bombing and was 3km from the point of impact, told French news agency AFP.
Sakuma, who is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba after the ceremony, intends to press him for Tokyo's accession to the UN Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons, signed in 2017. Tokyo has refused to sign it, saying its goal is unachievable without the help of nuclear-weapon states.
Reality of a catastrophe
Meanwhile, Nagasaki said that its memorial on Saturday is also expected to draw a record turnout.
This includes Russia, attending for the first time since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Nagasaki's decision last year to exclude Israel's ambassador prompted the then US envoy to Japan to boycott the ceremony.
The city said at the time that the move was "not politically motivated" but a safety precaution against potential disturbances like protests over the Gaza conflict.
"We wanted attendees to visit us and know first-hand the reality of what catastrophe a nuclear weapon can bring", a Nagasaki official told AFP last week.
(with AFP)
