Photo/Illutration Christians offer prayers at Mass held at Urakami Cathedral in Nagasaki on Aug. 9 to commemorate the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. (Jun Ueda)

NAGASAKI--With Typhoon No. 6 barreling toward Kyushu, Nagasaki city officials held a scaled-back ceremony to mark the 78th anniversary of the atomic bombing.

The ceremony was held indoors rather than at its usual site, Nagasaki Peace Park, for the first time since 1963.

Participants observed a moment of silence at 11:02 a.m., the moment the atomic bomb detonated on Aug. 9, 1945.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida sent a video message to the ceremony rather than attend in person.

The last time a prime minister did not attend Nagasaki’s ceremony was in 1999 when Keizo Obuchi was prime minister. At the time, the prime minister would alternate his attendance every year, going to the memorial ceremony in either Hiroshima or Nagasaki, but now the prime minister normally visits both cities.

In his Peace Declaration, Nagasaki Mayor Shiro Suzuki touched upon the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima last May. The G-7 leaders issued a Hiroshima Vision on Nuclear Disarmament that reiterated the importance of nuclear deterrence for their national security.

Suzuki refuted this sentiment.

“As long as states are dependent on nuclear deterrence, we cannot realize a world without nuclear weapons," he said. "Eliminating nuclear weapons from the face of the Earth is the only way to truly protect our safety."

"I hereby appeal to the leaders of nuclear states and countries under the nuclear umbrella: Now is the time to show courage and make the decision to break free from dependence on nuclear deterrence.”

Suzuki called on the government to sign and ratify the U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) and to attend as an observer the conference of parties to the treaty scheduled for this autumn.

In his Peace Declaration, Suzuki quoted Sumiteru Taniguchi, who was 16 when the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki and suffered major burns to his back.

“We have to go back to the very beginning, to look again at, ‘What happened to human beings under that mushroom cloud 78 years ago?’ and address the fundamental question of, ‘What would happen to the Earth and to humankind if a nuclear war were to begin right now?’” Suzuki said.

Although no bereaved family members attended the ceremony, Takeko Kudo, 85, from Kumamoto city, spoke as the representative of hibakusha.

She touched upon the inhumane nature of atomic weapons, while recalling the family members who perished in succession following the atomic bombing.

“Many of those who survived also now face a lot of health-related aftereffects,” Kudo said.

Her father, mother and three siblings all died from cancer. Kudo’s mother was pregnant with her younger sister when the atomic bomb was dropped. The sister also died of cancer.

Kudo herself underwent surgery for lung cancer three years ago.

“There are now about 12,500 nuclear warheads around the world even more powerful than the ones dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” Kudo said. “The only way to protect the future of the Earth and mankind is to eliminate nuclear weapons.”

In his video message, Kishida said, “While maintaining our three principles regarding nuclear weapons, we, as the only nation to have had an atomic bomb dropped on it in war, will continue our efforts to realize a world without nuclear weapons.”

Japan has pledged not to possess, manufacture or bring nuclear weapons within its borders.

But, as in his address in Hiroshima three days ago, Kishida made no mention of the TPNW.

The names of 3,314 hibakusha who died over the past year were added to Nagasaki's list of atomic bomb victims, now numbering 195,607.

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