Sun 09 August 2026:
Nagasaki on Sunday marked the 81st anniversary of the US dropping an atom bomb on the city amid a push for renewed debate over nuclear weapons in a challenge to the nation’s long-time pacifist stance.
“Nuclear weapons are not a ‘necessary evil’ but an ‘absolute evil,’ and can never coexist with humanity,” Nagasaki Mayor Shiro Suzuki said in a Peace Declaration read out during the annual memorial ceremony for the attack on the southwestern city.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi reiterated her message from last Thursday’s Hiroshima commemoration that Japan is continuing to uphold its three nonnuclear principles.
A moment of silence was held at 11.02 am local time when the plutonium device codenamed “Fat Man” was dropped by a US bomber and exploded over Nagasaki.
The commemoration comes as the Mideast conflict and Russia-Ukraine war continue to shake the globe.
Suzuki warned nuclear powers and nations relying on nuclear deterrence of the increased risk of a war using nuclear weapons, pointing out that more than 12,000 nuclear warheads still exist.
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He expressed concern over conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine, where nuclear powers Russia and the US are involved.
Takaichi said that under a pledge to ensure Nagasaki remains the final place to suffer a nuclear attack and with a mission as the only country to have experienced the horror of nuclear devastation in war, Japan will promote “realistic and practical” efforts toward realizing a world free of such weapons.
“The importance of promoting an accurate understanding around the world of the realities of the atomic bombings is growing ever greater,” she added.
This year’s commemoration comes amid a growing debate over whether to rethink Japan’s longstanding three nonnuclear principles of not producing, possessing, or allowing nuclear weapons.
Last month, Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said Tokyo needs a debate on nuclear weapons, as some European countries are seeking greater nuclear deterrence.
The Aug. 6, 1945 Hiroshima bombing during World War II left an estimated 140,000 victims dead by the end of the year, while an atomic bomb dropped on the city of Nagasaki three days later killed an estimated 74,000 people.
Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, bringing an end to World War II.
-Source: AA
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