Hiroshima on Thursday commemorated the 81st anniversary of the US atomic bombing, with its mayor using the occasion to sharply criticise major powers for continuing to wage war and for justifying nuclear weapons as a means of deterrence.
In his peace declaration at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, Mayor Kazumi Matsui said that “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.”
Matsui argued that too many political leaders still regard nuclear deterrence as a realistic approach, and that legitimising violence “simply pushes a world without nuclear weapons further into the distance.” He called on every citizen to learn from the past and take action.
The ceremony drew around 50,000 attendees, including representatives from some 120 countries and regions, among them the United States and Iran. A minute of silence was observed at 8:15 am, the exact time the US B-29 bomber dropped the bomb on the city in 1945.
A shifting political landscape
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi attended the memorial for the first time in her role, saying she would take “a realistic approach” toward a world where nuclear weapons are never used, within the framework of the UN’s non-proliferation treaty. Her presence comes amid speculation that her hawkish government, which supports nuclear deterrence, may ease Japan’s postwar three non-nuclear principles when it compiles new security and defence documents later this year.
Takaichi has advocated reviewing those principles, potentially dropping the third one, which forbids the introduction of nuclear weapons into Japanese territory. While she said Japan has maintained its postwar principles, she stopped short of committing to them indefinitely.
Survivors have expressed frustration and worry over the growing international support for nuclear deterrence, including within Japan. Many see the country’s reliance on the US nuclear umbrella as contradictory to the spirit of Hiroshima.
Japan’s government has repeatedly sought Washington’s reassurance of its commitment to extended deterrence, and has rejected survivors’ requests to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons or even attend its meetings as observers.
The bombing of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945 killed an estimated 140,000 people, and the second bomb on Nagasaki three days later killed another 70,000. Japan surrendered on 15 August, ending World War II and its nearly half-century of aggression in Asia.
The number of surviving victims, known as hibakusha, has fallen to 91,105 — about a quarter of the original number — and their average age now exceeds 86. Many worry that the youngest survivors were too young to clearly recall the attack, and that the memory of what happened is fading.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, in a written statement, said that “the horror of nuclear weapons is just one lesson of Hiroshima. Another is the need to build a world in which the threat or use of these weapons becomes unthinkable.” He praised the city as “an inspiring example of resilience, renewal and hope,” and called for “dialogue over division, cooperation over confrontation and common security over narrow advantage.”
The anniversary comes at a time when nuclear risks are again in the spotlight, from the war in Ukraine to tensions in the Middle East and Asia. For many in Europe, the debate over deterrence resonates, particularly as Hungary's Paks nuclear plant faces shutdown and as wildfires near Suffolk nuclear plants raise questions about safety. The lessons of Hiroshima, however, remain universal.
