Hiroshima anniversary sees Mayor Matsui attack nuclear deterrence

Hiroshima marked the 81st anniversary of the atomic bombing as Mayor Kazumi Matsui denounced nuclear deterrence and war. The memorial sharpened scrutiny of Japan's nuclear principles and survivors' fears that 1945 is being forgotten.

In Short

• Around 50,000 people from 120 nations attended Hiroshima's solemn memorial ceremony
• A minute's silence marked the exact time the bomb struck Hiroshima
• Takaichi backed a realistic path through the UN non-proliferation framework

Hiroshima on Thursday marked the 81st anniversary of the US atomic bombing of the city, with Mayor Kazumi Matsui using the occasion to criticise major powers for continuing wars and for justifying nuclear weapons as a form of deterrence. He said treating nuclear arms as acceptable and relying on force risked repeating the devastation seen in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, attending the memorial for the first time as prime minister, said Japan would take "a realistic approach" to achieving a world in which nuclear weapons are never used, within the framework of the United Nations' treaty aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons. The ceremony came amid speculation that her hawkish government may ease Japan's post-war three non-nuclear principles when it draws up new security and defence documents later this year.

In his peace declaration at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, Matsui said, "Downplaying the inhumanity of nuclear weapons and accepting the use of force to pursue one's own prosperity risk cycles of violent retaliation that could ultimately result in another Hiroshima or Nagasaki." He said too many political leaders still saw nuclear deterrence as a realistic approach and legitimised violence, which "simply pushes a world without nuclear weapons further into the distance". He also urged citizens to learn from the past and take action.

About 50,000 people, including representatives from around 120 countries and regions such as the United States and Iran, were to attend the ceremony. A minute of silence was observed as a peace bell rang out at 8:15 am, the time a US B-29 dropped the bomb on the city.

Takaichi has backed a review of Japan's three non-nuclear principles, including the possibility of dropping the third principle, which bars nuclear weapons from being brought into the country. While she said Japan had maintained the principles since the war, she did not clearly commit to keeping that policy in the future.

Survivors have voiced frustration and concern over growing support in the international community, including in Japan, for possessing nuclear weapons as a deterrent. Japan remains under the US nuclear umbrella and has repeatedly sought Washington's reassurance and stronger protection. For that reason, the Japanese government has rejected survivors' calls to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons or attend its meetings as an observer.

The bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, destroyed the city and killed 140,000 people. A second bomb dropped on Nagasaki three days later killed 70,000. Japan surrendered on August 15, bringing World War II to an end and ending its nearly half-century of aggression in Asia. The number of survivors has now fallen to 91,105, about a quarter of the original total, with their average age above 86. As Hiroshima marked the anniversary, the ceremony brought back both the scale of the destruction and the survivors' fear that memories of the attack are fading.

With PTI Inputs

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