Hiroshima on Wednesday marked the 81st anniversary of the atomic bombing with a peace memorial ceremony attended by roughly 50,000 people at Peace Memorial Park, drawing representatives from a record 121 countries and regions alongside the European Union. China and Russia did not attend, while the United States was represented by its chargé d'affaires.
At 8:15 a.m., the exact moment the bomb fell in 1945, the Peace Bell tolled and attendees observed a minute of silence. Mayor Kazumi Matsui used his peace declaration to call on the Japanese government to attend November's review conference for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons as an observer and to expand support for survivors, whose average age has reached 86.66.
The ceremony added 4,393 newly confirmed victims' names to the memorial register, bringing the total to 353,639. Survivor Fumihiko Iwai, 89, expressed anger at Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi's recent call for debate on nuclear policy "without taboos", a remark that has unsettled hibakusha communities.