Photo/Illutration Mourners in Hiroshima observe a moment of silence at 8:15 a.m. on Aug. 6, the exact moment an atomic bomb detonated above the city 78 years ago. (Tatsuo Kanai)

HIROSHIMA--Bells tolled, and mourners observed a moment of silent prayer Aug. 6 as the city of Hiroshima remembered the tens of thousands of residents who perished 78 years ago in the world’s first use of an atomic bomb in warfare.

The somber annual ceremony was held three months after leaders of the Group of Seven and other invited nations stood at the same Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park to offer flowers to the 140,000 or so victims.

A moment of silence was observed at 8:15 a.m., the exact moment the atomic bomb detonated over the city in a blinding flash that devastated the landscape and culminated in a mushroom cloud.

In his Peace Declaration, Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui urged the government to take stronger steps toward the goal held by all victims of the atomic bombing: the elimination of nuclear weapons.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who represents a Lower House district in Hiroshima, touched upon the G-7 summit held in May.

“Leaders from around the world heard from the hibakusha and came in direct contact with the suffering caused by the atomic bombing and the feelings for peace held by them,” he said.

Kishida said the Hiroshima Vision on Nuclear Disarmament that the G-7 leaders released further heightened global momentum toward nuclear disarmament.

The speech by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was read on his behalf by Izumi Nakamitsu, the U.N. High Representative for Disarmament Affairs.

Guterres also referred to the G-7 summit and wrote, “World leaders have emerged emboldened to take up the cause of nuclear disarmament.”

But in a reference to Russia over its war in Ukraine, he added: “The nuclear shadow has re-emerged. The only way to eliminate the nuclear risk is to eliminate nuclear weapons.”

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Tomoru Yonehiro, left, and Erena Katsuoka read the Pledge for Peace at the memorial ceremony held in Hiroshima on Aug. 6. (Minako Yoshimoto)

Two Hiroshima sixth graders--Erena Katsuoka and Tomoru Yonehiro--read the Pledge for Peace that said, “We who live in Hiroshima will build a future in which everyone can feel they are at peace.”

They noted that the atomic bomb left deep scars on hibakusha, including their great-grandfathers who blamed themselves by asking why they were allowed to live when so many of their friends perished.

After the ceremony, Kishida met with representatives of hibakusha groups, and they were blistering in their criticism of the G-7 summit.

They complained that the Hiroshima Vision did not present a course for moving away from a reliance on nuclear deterrence.

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