Japan’s Peace Movement Braces for an Age of Nuclear Proliferation

Memories of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are slowly fading.

Doves are released into the air during a memorial ceremony at the Peace Park in Nagasaki. August 8, 2025, 3:35 PM Comment icon View Comments ( )

The annual ceremonies in Hiroshima on Aug. 6 and Nagasaki on Aug. 9 are somber yet chilling events. But on the 80th anniversaries of history’s only atomic bombings, Japan’s peace advocates seem more isolated than ever in a world headed toward greater proliferation—and where even pacifist Japan may decide it needs its own nuclear bomb.

In Hiroshima, the Peace Bell is rung and sirens across the city usher in a minute of silence in order to “pay silent tribute to the victims of the atomic bombing and pray for the rea

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