Thousands gathered in Nagasaki on Saturday to mark 80 years since the city was destroyed by an atomic bomb, as its mayor warned that current global tensions risk pushing the world toward nuclear war.
At 11:02 a.m.—the exact moment on August 9, 1945, when the U.S. dropped the 10,000-pound plutonium bomb “Fat Man”—attendees bowed their heads in silence at Nagasaki Peace Park. The blast killed around 27,000 instantly, with the death toll reaching 70,000 by the end of that year from radiation exposure, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.
Mayor Shiro Suzuki urged global leaders to return to the principles of the U.N. Charter and take concrete steps toward eliminating nuclear weapons, saying the world could no longer afford delays.
“This is a crisis of human survival that is closing in on each and every one of us,” he said, recalling survivors’ harrowing testimonies of bodies strewn “like stones” and people whose “eyeballs had popped out.”
Representatives from 95 countries and territories—including the United States, Israel, and Russia—attended the memorial. Survivors, known as hibakusha, continue to face long-term health effects and discrimination. Their numbers have now dropped below 100,000 for the first time, prompting renewed urgency to preserve their stories.
Japan remains committed to nuclear disarmament but has not signed or observed the U.N. treaty banning nuclear weapons. The anniversary follows last year’s Nobel Peace Prize win for Nihon Hidankyo, the country’s leading A-bomb survivors’ group.
For many, like 14-year-old visitor Daiji Kawanaka from Osaka, the message is simple:
“A tragedy like this must never be repeated. We can only pledge to take the initiative ourselves in making a step toward peace.”
