Nagasaki is marking the U.S. atomic attack on the southern Japanese city 80 years ago and survivors are working to make their hometown the last place on earth hit by the bomb.

The atomic bomb dropped by the United States on Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945, killed some 70,000 people, three days after the bombing of Hiroshima killed 140,000.

Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, 1945, ending World War II and the country’s nearly half-century of aggression across Asia.

About 2,600 people, including representatives from more than 90 countries, attended a memorial event Saturday at Nagasaki Peace Park, where Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba spoke. 

At 11:02 a.m., the exact time when the plutonium bomb exploded above Nagasaki, participants observed a moment of silence as a bell rang. 

Dozens of doves, a symbol of peace, were released after a speech by Nagasaki Mayor Shiro Suzuki, whose parents are survivors of the attack.

Survivors and their families gathered Saturday in rainy weather at Peace Park and nearby Hypocenter Park, located below the bomb’s exact detonation spot, hours before the official ceremony.

Others prayed at churches in Nagasaki, home to Catholic converts who went deep underground during centuries of violent persecution in Japan’s feudal era.

Despite their pain from wounds, discrimination and illnesses from radiation, survivors have publicly committed to a shared goal of abolishing nuclear weapons. But they worry about the world moving in the opposite direction. 

Aging survivors and their supporters in Nagasaki now put their hopes of achieving nuclear weapons abolition in the hands of younger people, telling them the attack is not distant history, but an issue that remains relevant to their future. 

Survivors are frustrated by a growing nuclear threat and support among international leaders for developing or possessing nuclear weapons for deterrence.

They criticise the Japanese government’s refusal to sign or even participate in the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons because Japan, as an American ally, needs U.S. nuclear possession as deterrence.

In Ishiba's speech, the Prime Minister reiterated Japan’s pursuit of a nuclear-free world and pledged to promote dialogue and cooperation between countries with nuclear weapons and non-nuclear states at the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons review conference scheduled for April and May 2026 in New York City.

Ishiba, however, did not mention the nuclear weapons ban treaty. Koichi Kawano, attended a gathering at Atomic Bomb Hypocenter Monument, representing those who were affected by the atomic bombing in Nagasaki. 

Now the chairman of Japan Council against Atomic and Hydrogen Bomb, Kawano hopes for a world with no wars.

Nagasaki invited representatives from all countries to attend the ceremony Saturday. China notably notified the city it would not be present without providing a reason.

The ceremony last year stirred controversy due to the absence of the U.S. ambassador and other Western envoys in response to the Japanese city’s refusal to invite Israel.

AP Video shot by Mayuko Ono

-----

The Associated Press receives support for nuclear security coverage from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and Outrider Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.