The mayor of Nagasaki called for a Japan free of nuclear fears as the city marked the 67th anniversary of its World War II Hiroshima atomic bombing attack by the United States.
Japan marked the 67th anniversary of the world’s first atomic bomb attack with a great ceremony that was attended by a grandson of Harry Truman, the US president who ordered the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
Speaking at a memorial service held near the epicenter of the August 9, 1945 blast, the mayor of Nagasaki Tomihisa Taue also warned of the dangers of nuclear weapons. Among those attending the service were Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and United States Ambassador to Japan John Roos. It was the US diplomat’s first time at the annual ceremony.
Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue urged the Japanese government to set new policy to achieve a society free of radiation fears.
The anniversary of Hiroshima atomic bomb attack / Nagasaki mayor Tomihisa Taue calls for free Japan society of radioactivity
The United States dropped 2 atomic bombs on Japan in the closing days of World War II — the first on the city of Hiroshima, and the second, 3 days later, on Nagasaki. The bombing of Hiroshima killed around 140 thousand people, while the attack on Nagasaki killed an estimated 70 thousand. Japan surrendered 6 days later.
The anniversaries of the two bombings hold particular significance for Japan now, following last year’s accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The disaster that followed a massive earthquake and tsunami has unleashed a growing wave of anti-nuclear sentiment in the country.
Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue has said, the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, which was struck by a tsunami last March, has revealed the risk of nuclear technology.
Tomihisa Taue urged the city of Japan to map out concrete plans to achieve a nuclear-free Japanese society where people do not need to worry about the effects of radiation. He also called for renewed commitment to a global ban on nuclear weapons.
Hiroshima Nagasaki 67th anniversary / remind of the world’s biggest atom disaster in Japan
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda renewed his promise to seek a society less reliant to nuclear power in a mid to long-term policy platform due out within weeks. He said they will compile an energy structure that would reassure the safety of the local people.
Around 19,000 nuclear weapons still exist on the globe. People in this world are living side by side with the danger of a possible nuclear war happening any minute. What will happen to the human race if a nuclear weapon more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki is used? In order for Nagasaki to be the last city that was attacked by a nuclear weapon, the use of nuclear weapons and its development must be clearly prohibited.
The United States sent its ambassador, John Roos, to Nagasaki for the first time this year, a year after his deputy attended the ceremony.
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