NAGASAKI major Shiro Suzuki called on nuclear-armed states to abolish the weapons at a ceremony today (Fri) marking the 79th anniversary of the US’s atomic bombing of the city at the end of World War II.
“You must face up to the reality that the very existence of nuclear weapons poses an increasing threat to humankind, and you must make a brave shift toward the abolition of nuclear weapons,” Mr Suzuki said.
He warned that the world faces “a critical situation” because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and accelerating conflicts in the Middle East.
The atomic bomb dropped by the US on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, killed 70,000 people, three days after the bombing of Hiroshima killed 140,000.
Japan surrendered on August 15 1945, ending World War II and its nearly half-century of aggression across Asia.
Speaking at today’’s ceremony, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida reiterated his pledge to pursue a nuclear-free world. His critics, many of them atomic bomb survivors say it’s a hollow promise as Japan relies on the US nuclear umbrella while building up its own military.
At 11.02am, the moment the plutonium bomb exploded above the southern Japanese city, participants observed a moment of silence as a peace bell tolled.
More than 2,000 people, including representatives from 100 countries, attended the ceremony.
But ambassadors from the US and five other Group of Seven nations — Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Britain — and the European Union were absent.
Their governments sent lower-ranking envoys in response to Mr Suzuki’s decision not to invite Israel.
US Ambassador Rahm Emanuel attended a ceremony at a Buddhist temple in Tokyo honouring the Nagasaki atomic bombing victims, joined by his Israeli and British counterparts, Gilad Cohen and Julia Longbottom.
“We are obviously in Tokyo, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have a responsibility to think and to reflect and to remember” what happened 79 years ago in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Mr Emanuel said.
Mr Suzuki denied that his decision to exclude Israel was political, and said he feared that possible “unforeseeable situations” such as violent protests over the war in Gaza might disrupt the ceremony.
Mr Suzuki, whose parents are survivors of the bombing, said the August 9 anniversary is the most important day for Nagasaki and must be commemorated in a peaceful and solemn environment.
Mr Emanuel disagreed.
“I think it was a political decision, not one based on security, given the prime minister’s attendance,” which required high security, Mr Emanuel told reporters.
He claimed that excluding Israel drew “a moral equivalency between Russia and Israel, one country that invaded versus one country that was a victim of invasion,” and that “my attendance would respect that political judgement, and I couldn’t do that.”
