Photo/Illutration Mourners pray in front of the cenotaph for atomic bomb victims in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park on Aug. 6. (Shiro Nishihata)

HIROSHIMA--Hiroshima on Aug. 6 marked the day 77 years ago when a blinding flash leveled this western Japan city in the first use of an atomic bomb in warfare, killing tens of thousands of residents in an instant and thousands more in the years that followed.

A moment of silence was observed by hibakusha atomic bomb survivors, dignitaries and others who gathered at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park at 8:15 a.m., the exact moment the weapon detonated above the city.

As in past years, the mayor delivered a speech calling on the nuclear powers to scrap their nuclear arsenals. But the message on this anniversary had a heightened sense of urgency due to growing concerns nuclear weapons could once again be used.

In his Hiroshima Peace Declaration, Mayor Kazumi Matsui said, “We must immediately render all nuclear buttons meaningless.”

He also touched upon the February invasion of Ukraine and quoted from Russian literary giant Leo Tolstoy who said, “Never build your happiness on the misfortune of others, for only in their happiness can you find your own.”

Matsui again called on the Japanese government to sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who represents a Lower House constituency that covers central Hiroshima city, attended the ceremony for the first time as prime minister.

Touching upon the fact that the use of nuclear weapons was now being talked about as a possibility, Kishida said Hiroshima must continue to speak out to the world about never again allowing such a calamity.

But Kishida did not mention the TPNW.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also spoke at the ceremony and said, “There is only one solution to the nuclear threat: not to have nuclear weapons at all.”

His attendance was the second by a U.N. secretary-general and the first in 12 years.

The average age of the atomic bomb survivors now exceeds 84 for the first time and that reality has raised concerns about the day when there are none left to directly pass down their memories.

Tamiko Nishimoto, an 81-year-old hibakusha living in Ishikawa Prefecture, was among those who attended the ceremony. She recalled that about 200 hibakusha used to live there, but now only 60 or so survive. Nishimoto also noted that the organization for atomic bomb sufferers that she headed for many years disbanded in March because of the small number of members.

“There will come a time in the not-too-distant future when there are zero hibakusha,” she added.

Nishimoto said watching footage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and images of destroyed buildings revived memories of the scene in Hiroshima when she was just a little girl on this day 77 years ago.

She also expressed her deep fear of nuclear weapons being used after Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to do so if Western nations interfered with the invasion of Ukraine.

The advancing age of hibakusha living in Hiroshima has also led to the passing of the baton among sisters who survived the bombing.

Chizuko Sanuki, 81, was 4 years old at the time of the bombing and spent many years involved in a hibakusha organization that submitted its proposals to the prime minister every Aug. 6.

But in January, she asked her younger sister, Kazuko Hirota, 78, if she could take over from this year.

Since she was only 16 months old when the bomb was dropped, Hirota has no memory of what happened and only what her mother told her about being on a train when the bomb detonated.

Hirota was part of the group that met with Kishida on Aug. 6 and she read out the requests of the hibakusha.

After that meeting, Hirota met with reporters and said, “I want to play a leading role in the movement so hibakusha can lead better lives together.”

(This article was written by Tabito Fukutomi and Shohei Okada.)

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