Nagasaki, Japan, marks the eighty anniversary of atomic bombing while young survivors urge pressure for the nuclear embargo

On Saturday, the southern Japanese city of Nagasaki was 80 years since the American atomic attack that killed tens of thousands and left the survivors who hope their horrific memories would help make their hometown the last place to be hit by a nuclear bomb.

The United States launched the Nagasaki attack on August 9, 1945, killing at least 70,000 people by the end of that year, three days after the Hiroshima bombing, which left about 140,000 dead. Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945, as World War II ended and a half century of aggression by the country throughout Asia.

About 2,600 people, including representatives from more than 90 countries, attended a memorial event at Nagasaki PEACE Park, where Mayor Shero Suzuki and Prime Minister Shigo Ishiba were among the guests who spoke.

At 11:02 am local time, the time when the Blootonium bomb exploded over Nagasaki, the participants noticed the moment of silence while Run bell.

“Even after the war ended, the atomic bomb brought invisible terrorism.” He added that many of those who did not suffer from severe wounds have suffered from symptoms at a later time, including bleeding from gums and hair loss, before death.

“Do not use nuclear weapons again or finish.”

Dozens of doves were released, a symbol of peace, after a speech delivered by Suzuki, and the parents from the attack.

He said that the city’s memories of the bombing are “a common heritage and must be transferred to generations” in Japan and abroad.

Suzuki said: “The existential crisis of humanity has become imminent for every one of us who lives on the ground,” said Suzuki. “In order to make Nagasaki the last atomic bombing site now and forever, we will go along with international citizens and dedicate our maximum efforts towards canceling nuclear weapons and realizing eternal world peace.”

“World without war”

The survivors and their families gathered on Saturday in the rainy weather in Park and Hypocense Park, located below the location of the bombing of the bomb, hours before the official ceremony.

“I simply seek a world without a war,” said Kochi Kwano, the 85 -year -old survivor, who placed flowers in a memorial consisting of colored oreagami cranes and other offers.

Others prayed in the churches in Nagasaki, the home of the Catholic converts who went to the depths of the earth during the centuries of violent persecution in the feudal era of Japan.

The twin bells at the Awrakami Cathedral, which destroyed the bombing, also conducted together again after one of the bells that disappeared after the attack was restored by the volunteers.

Despite their pain from wounds, discrimination and diseases caused by radiation, the survivors publicly committed to a common goal is to cancel nuclear weapons. But they are concerned about the transition of the world in the opposite direction.

The survivors of aging and their supporters in Nagazaki put their hopes to achieve the abolition of nuclear weapons in the hands of young people, and told them that the attack is not a far history, but an issue remains related to their future.

“There are only two things that I yearn for: canceling nuclear weapons and prohibiting war,” said Fumi Takishita, 83 -year -old survivor. “I seek a world in which nuclear weapons are never used and everyone can live in peace.”

Hoping to transfer history lessons to current and future generations, Takeshita is visiting schools to share their experience with children.

“When you grow up and remember what I learned today, please think about what each of you can do to prevent war,” Takishita told students at one school earlier this week.

Teruko Yokoyama, 83, is the Vice -President of the Survoning Council of atomic bombs in Nagasaki, and said that the increasing absence of those with whom she worked with her desire to document the lives of others who are still alive.

This total decreased to 99,130, or about a quarter of the original number, with an average age exceeding 86.

The survivors of fading worried memories, because the youngest survivors were very young so that they did not remember the attack clearly.

“We must keep records of the damage of the atomic shelling of the survivors and their lifelong story,” said Yokoyama, who died two sisters after suffering from radiation -related diseases.

Its organization began numbering survivors’ novels to display on YouTube and other social media platforms with the help of a new generation.

“There are younger people who have started taking action,” Yokoyama told Associated Press on Friday. “So I think we do not have to depression yet.”

PM pledges to promote the dialogue

Survivors are frustrated by the increasing nuclear threat and support among international leaders to develop or possess nuclear weapons to deter. They criticize the Japanese government’s refusal to sign or even participate in the Nuclear Weapons Prohibition Treaty as an observer because Japan, as an American ally, says it needs nuclear possession for us as a deterrent.

In Ishiba’s speech, the Prime Minister repeated Japan’s endeavor to a world free of nuclear weapons, pledged to enhance dialogue and cooperation between nuclear and non -nuclear weapons countries at the Non -Proliferation Conference of the Nuclear Weapons Review Conference in April and May 2026 in New York. Ishiba did not mention the Nuclear Weapons Prohibition Treaty.

“The two countries must move from one words to another by strengthening the global disarmament system” with the treaty that Nuclear weapons (NPT) is not spread in the center, and the momentum established by the Nuclear Weapons Prohibition Treaty.

Nagasaki invited representatives from all countries to attend the ceremony on Saturday. The government in China has significantly informed the city that it would not be present, without providing a reason.

Last year, the ceremony sparked controversy due to the absence of the American ambassador and other Western envoys in response to the Japanese city’s refusal to invite officials from Israel.