Japan on Saturday marked the 71st anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima by renewing calls for a world free of nuclear weapons and by urging leaders to follow the example of President Barack Obama and visit the bomb sites.
Quoting part of Obama's May speech in Hiroshima, Mayor Kazumi Matsui urged countries with nuclear weapons to "have the courage to escape the logic of fear and pursue a world without them."
"We need to fill our policymakers with the passion to solidify this unity and create a security system based on trust and dialogue," he said. "To that end, I once again urge the leaders of all nations to visit the A-bombed cities."
He said such visits "will surely etch the reality of the atomic bombings in each heart."
Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to pay tribute to those killed by the first atomic bomb used in combat, dropped by the U.S. to force Japan's capitulation in World War II.
About 50,000 people attended Saturday's ceremony at Hiroshima's Peace Park, near the bomb's epicenter.
In addition to survivors and representatives of the families of victims, the ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, representatives from 91 countries and a European Union delegation.
It was the second-largest number of represented countries, after the 100 that marked the 70th anniversary last year.
As nuclear states, representatives from the United States, Britain, France and Russia attended. From the United States, Robert Rapson, minister in charge of political affairs, attended as charge d'affaires.
At 8:15 a.m., the time the atomic bomb was dropped, representatives of families of the deceased joined others in ringing the Hiroshima Peace Bell, and attendees offered silent prayers.
In his speech, the mayor also cautioned Abe against his push to revise Japan's war-renouncing constitution to give more power to the Japanese military.
He urged him to join Obama in taking leadership toward ridding the world of nuclear weapons.
"A nuclear weapon-free world would manifest the noble pacifism of the Japanese Constitution," he said.
Abe said in his speech that Japan, as the only nation to have suffered from the atomic bombings, will stick to its non-nuclear principles while making further efforts toward a nuclear weapons-free world by promoting cooperation between nuclear and non-nuclear states and encouraging world leaders and younger generations to see Hiroshima's reality.
The Aug. 6, 1945, bombing killed or wounded about 150,000 people, according to research from the University of California at Los Angeles. An atomic bombing three days later in Nagasaki killed or wounded about 75,000 people.
The names of 5,511 victims whose deaths were confirmed in the past year were added to the list at the cenotaph for atomic-bomb victims. The total number of deceased victims registered at the cenotaph has reached 303,195.
The average age of the survivors is now over 80. Many suffer from long-lasting effects of radiation.
By: NorthWest Arkansas Democrat Gazette.
Contributing: Mari Yamaguchi (Associated Press) and Staff Members (The Japan News).
Photo 1: CBS News.
Photo 2: Aljazeera.
Photo 3: Press TV.
Review: Emerging Market Formulations & Research Unit, FLAGSHIP RECORDS.
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