NAGASAKI -- The existence of nuclear weapons continues to threaten humanity even 75 years after they were last used, Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue said at a memorial ceremony on Sunday.
The annual ceremony commemorating the atomic bombing of Nagasaki was held at Nagasaki Peace Park, where all in attendance observed a moment of silence at the sound of the peace bell ringing at 11:02 a.m., the time the bomb was dropped by the United States on Aug. 9, 1945.
"Despite the passing of three quarters of a century, we are still living in [a] world where nuclear weapons exist," Taue said in the opening of the Nagasaki Peace Declaration.
He called on the Japanese government to sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
"This year marks the 50th year since the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty entered into force," Taue said. "However, in the past few years motions by the nuclear-weapon states to go back on the promise of nuclear disarmament have been increasing, as evidenced by initiatives such as the scrapping of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty."
He added, "Nuclear arms reductions are far too late in coming."
Last year, Pope Francis visited Nagasaki and Taue quoted him as having said, "There is a need to break down the [growing] climate of distrust." Following up on the pope's message, Taue urged each country to build trust through dialogue to set out a course on effective nuclear disarmament.
The mayor then called on the participants at the ceremony to express their respect and gratitude for the hibakusha atomic bombing survivors who have spoken out about the horror of nuclear weapons year after year. The participants applauded for about ten seconds.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and representatives from 68 countries, including nuclear-armed states such as the United States, Russia, Britain and France, were among those who attended the ceremony.
"As the only country to have suffered atomic bombings in war," Abe said in his address, "it is the unchanging mission of Japan to steadily advance the international community's efforts to achieve a world without nuclear arms, step by step."
The city reduced the number of invitees to about 500, including hibakusha and bereaved families, amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. In a usual year, the number of attendees usually reaches about 5,000 people. The number of people representing other prefectures was the lowest ever at 19.
Entry to the venue was restricted to only invited people from 7:30 a.m. until the end of the ceremony, about four hours later, as part of efforts to prevent the spread of the virus. The seats for the invitees were placed about 2 meters apart on each side.
The atomic bombing on Nagasaki killed 73,884 people by the end of 1945. At Sunday's ceremony, four books listing the names of 3,406 additional victims of the Nagasaki bombing who were confirmed to have died in the year through the end of July were enshrined. A total of 191 books have so far been compiled, bringing the number of the dead to 185,982.
The number of hibakusha in Japan who are holders of Atomic Bomb Survivor's Certificates stood at 136,682 as of the end of March. Their average age was 83.31, up 0.66 from the previous year.
On Saturday night, about 5,000 paper lanterns lit by candles were placed by visitors at the Nagasaki Peace Park in an event urging peace. On the lanterns were written various messages by children from the city, such as, "We will hand over the baton of peace."
Usually, a chorus of children perform songs around such lanterns, but this year, to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus, a video of the choral performance was shown in the park.
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