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The Star
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Star
Mayor warns of nuclear war threat
Remembering the pain: People standing before the Peace Statue during the annual memorial ceremony at Nagasaki Peace Park, marking the 80th anniversary of the WWII atomic bombing. — AFP/AP Thousands bowed their heads in prayer in Nagasaki yesterday to mark the 80th anniversary of the city's atomic bombing, as the mayor warned that current global conflicts could push the world again into nuclear war. The western Japanese city was levelled on Aug 9, 1945, when the United States dropped a 4,535kg plutonium-239 bomb, nicknamed 'Fat Man', instantly killing some 27,000 of the city's estimated 200,000 people. By the end of 1945, the death toll from acute radiation exposure had reached about 70,000. Nagasaki's destruction came three days after a US uranium-235 bomb destroyed Hiroshima. Japan surrendered on Aug 15, ending World War Two. After a moment of silence at 11.02am, marking the time of the blast, Mayor Shiro Suzuki called on leaders to return to the principles of the United Nations' Charter and show a concrete path toward abolishing nuclear weapons, warning that delay was 'no longer permissible'. Attendees praying for the bombing victims after the ceremony and Sumiteru Taniguchi. 'This is a crisis of human survival that is closing in on each and every one of us,' Suzuki told the crowd, estimated by Japanese media at 2,700. He quoted the testimony of a survivor to illustrate the reality of a nuclear attack: 'Around me were people whose eyeballs had popped out ... Bodies were strewn about like stones.' 'Is it not this 'global citizen' perspective that will serve as the driving force behind stitching back together our fragmented world?' Suzuki asked, calling for a solution based on mutual understanding and solidarity. The US military is believed to have chosen Nagasaki as a target due to its significance as a major industrial and port city. The city's geographical features, including its hilly terrain, were also thought to concentrate the blast. Representatives from 95 countries and territories, including nuclear superpower the United States and Israel – which neither confirms nor denies having nuclear weapons – attended the annual ceremony at the Nagasaki Peace Memorial Park for the milestone year. Russia, which possesses the world's largest nuclear stockpile, was also represented. An 86-year-old Nagasaki bombing survivor, seen during a photo call on June 30, 2015, in Nagasaki. Daiji Kawanaka, a 14-year-old tourist from Osaka, echoed the mayor's sentiments. 'I truly believe a tragedy like this must never be repeated,' he said. He added that the anniversary prompts conversations about peace even among his peers. 'We can only pledge to take the initiative ourselves in making a step toward peace,' he said. Japan's leading organisation of atomic bomb survivors, Nihon Hidankyo, won the Nobel Peace Prize last year for campaigning for a world without nuclear weapons. Survivors, known as 'hibakusha', continue to suffer the effects from radiation and social discrimination. With their numbers falling below 100,000 for the first time this year, their stories fuel ongoing efforts to advocate for a nuclear-free world. Japan, the only country to have suffered such attacks, has stated its commitment to nuclear disarmament but is not a signatory or observer of the UN treaty to ban nuclear weapons. — Reuters
Japan Today
2 days ago
- General
- Japan Today
Restored Nagasaki bell rings in 80 years since A-bomb
Doves fly past the "Peace Statue" after being released into the air during the annual memorial ceremony at the Peace Park in Nagasaki on August 9, 2025 By Mathias CENA Twin cathedral bells rang in unison Saturday in Japan's Nagasaki for the first time since the atomic bombing of the city 80 years ago, commemorating the moment of horror. On August 9, 1945, at 11:02 am, three days after a nuclear attack on Hiroshima, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki. After heavy downpours Saturday morning, the rain stopped shortly before a moment of silence and ceremony in which Nagasaki mayor Shiro Suzuki urged the world to "stop armed conflicts immediately". "Eighty years have passed, and who could have imagined that the world would become like this? A crisis that could threaten the survival of humanity, such as a nuclear war, is looming over each and every one of us living on this planet." About 74,000 people were killed in the southwestern port city, on top of the 140,000 killed in Hiroshima. Days later, on August 15, 1945, Japan surrendered, marking the end of World War II. Historians have debated whether the bombings ultimately saved lives by bringing an end to the conflict and averting a ground invasion. But those calculations meant little to survivors, many of whom battled decades of physical and psychological trauma, as well as the stigma that often came with being a hibakusha. Ninety-three-year-old survivor Hiroshi Nishioka, who was just three kilometers from the spot where the bomb exploded, told ceremony attendees of the horror he witnessed as a young teenager. "Even the lucky ones (who were not severely injured) gradually began to bleed from their gums and lose their hair, and one after another they died," he recalled. "Even though the war was over, the atomic bomb brought invisible terror." Nagasaki resident Atsuko Higuchi told AFP it "made her happy" that everyone would remember the city's victims. "Instead of thinking that these events belong to the past, we must remember that these are real events that took place," the 50-year-old said. On Saturday, 200-300 people attending mass at Nagasaki's Immaculate Conception Cathedral heard the two bells ring together for the first time since 1945. One of them, 61-year-old Akio Watanabe, said he had been waiting since he was a young man to hear the bells chime together. The restoration is a "symbol of reconciliation", he said, tears streaming down his face. The imposing red-brick cathedral, with its twin bell towers atop a hill, was rebuilt in 1959 after it was almost completely destroyed in the monstrous explosion just a few hundred meters away. Only one of its two bells was recovered from the rubble, leaving the northern tower silent. With funds from U.S. churchgoers, a new bell was constructed and restored to the tower, and chimed Saturday at the exact moment the bomb was dropped. The cathedral's chief priest, Kenichi Yamamura, told AFP "it's not about forgetting the wounds of the past but recognizing them and taking action to repair and rebuild, and in doing so, working together for peace". He also sees the chimes as a message to the world, shaken by multiple conflicts and caught in a frantic new arms race. Nearly 100 countries were set to participate in this year's commemorations, including Russia, which has not been invited since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Israel, whose ambassador was not invited last year over the war in Gaza, was in attendance. An American university professor, whose grandfather participated in the Manhattan Project, which developed the first nuclear weapons, spearheaded the bell project. During his research in Nagasaki, a Japanese Christian told him he would like to hear the two bells of the cathedral ring together in his lifetime. Inspired by the idea, James Nolan, a sociology professor at Williams College in Massachusetts, embarked on a year-long series of lectures about the atomic bomb across the United States, primarily in churches. He managed to raise $125,000 from American Catholics to fund the new bell. When it was unveiled in Nagasaki in the spring, "the reactions were magnificent. There were people literally in tears", said Nolan. Many American Catholics he met were also unaware of the painful history of Nagasaki's Christians, who, converted in the 16th century by the first European missionaries and then persecuted by Japanese shoguns, kept their faith alive clandestinely for over 250 years. This story was told in the novel "Silence" by Shusaku Endo, and adapted into a film by Martin Scorsese in 2016. He explains that American Catholics also showed "compassion and sadness" upon hearing about the perseverance of Nagasaki's Christians after the atomic bomb, which killed 8,500 of the parish's 12,000 faithful. They were inspired by the "willingness to forgive and rebuild". © 2025 AFP
Asahi Shimbun
3 days ago
- General
- Asahi Shimbun
VOX POPULI: The sorrow in the voices of 3,564 Nagasaki atomic bomb survivors
The iconic Peace Statue in Nagasaki's Peace Park stands as a beacon of hope on the 79th anniversary of the city's Aug. 9, 1945, atomic bombing. (Asahi Shimbun file photo) I was in Nagasaki recently. In the scorching heat, I visited The Nagasaki Shimbun building where a 'No War' monument stands. At the front desk, I was directed to a room in the editorial department on the sixth floor. There, three cardboard boxes sat on a desk. After wiping away dripping sweat, I opened one of them. In this 80th anniversary year of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, The Nagasaki Shimbun collaborated with The Chugoku Shimbun and The Asahi Shimbun to jointly survey hibakusha A-bomb survivors and collected 3,564 responses. I went to Nagasaki because I wanted to hold some of those responses in my hands as I read them. They were filled with urgent calls for peace. 'There is no justice in war,' wrote one hibakusha. Another noted, 'Nuclear weapons and humans cannot co-exist,' and yet another, 'No city should become the next victim (of atomic bombing).' My eyes followed every handwritten character with great care. And I traced each with a fingertip. The average age of hibakusha exceeds 86 now. Some had trouble writing the responses by themselves, but they still tried their hardest to make their thoughts known. A 91-year-old woman, who had suffered a stroke, wrote: 'I'm finally able to write this much with my left hand. Please forgive this scrawl.' Imagining her struggling to grip a pen in her non-dominant hand, I was moved to tears. Another person, afraid of being discriminated against, admitted, 'I still can't tell anyone that I'm a hibakusha.' Some cannot get over their lingering health concerns. Yoshiki Yamada, The Nagasaki Shimbun's managing editor, is a so-called second generation hibakusha. 'People are still scared, even after 80 years,' he said. 'How long will those weapons keep affecting people.' I was so absorbed in the task, I didn't realize I must have overstayed my welcome. After thanking everyone, I exited the building. The 'No War' writing on the memorial looked bigger than before. I felt a gentle breeze from the sea. --The Asahi Shimbun, Aug. 9 * * * Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.
The Mainichi
3 days ago
- General
- The Mainichi
People in Nagasaki strive to make the city the last A-bombed place on Earth
NAGASAKI -- "Where are you originally from? You visit your mom from time to time, right?" Yasujiro Tanaka, an 83-year-old hibakusha, or atomic bomb survivor, asked this Mainichi Shimbun reporter in front of the Peace Statue in this southwest Japan city on July 9, under the scorching sun. Tanaka has been taking part in a sit-in rally on the ninth day of every month to speak out against nuclear arms, continuing to wish for a world without atomic weapons or war. On the morning of Aug. 9, 1945, a U.S. atomic bomb was detonated above Nagasaki at 11:02 a.m., engulfing the city in heat rays and a blast. "A town lit by the blazing sun and buzzing with cicadas suddenly turned dusky and quiet in an instant," Tanaka recalled. By the end of that year, approximately 74,000 people had died in Nagasaki. "Even if your parents may nag you by telling you the same things over and over, cherish your family who have kept you alive," Tanaka told me, with a gentle look on his face. Chiyoko Iwanaga, 89, who experienced the atomic bombing, offers prayers at a church every Sunday. On that fateful day, she was exposed to the flash and blast from the bomb about 11 kilometers southwest of the hypocenter, while she was in the former village of Fukahori, now part of the city of Nagasaki. Although she was diagnosed with a thyroid disorder in her 50s, Iwanaga has not been officially recognized as a hibakusha because she was outside a zone subject to public relief designated by the national government. While Iwanaga has sought government relief for many years, her pleas have fallen on deaf ears. Others in the same situation have passed away one after the other, saying they became ill because of the atomic bomb. "I'm carrying a heavy cross on my back," she said. "Humans are vulnerable and anyone can make mistakes. If every individual can accept that, I believe conflicts would disappear." Her wishes for peace only grow stronger. Eighty years have passed since the end of WWII, and fewer people remain who lived through it. Meanwhile, it is not just humans who can tell the stories of the damage from the atomic bombing. Kenichi Kubota, 58, a tree doctor, has continued an annual survey of trees that were exposed to the radiation in Nagasaki alongside members of the Nagasaki Prefecture branch of the Japan Tree Doctors Association, in an effort to preserve them for future generations. About 50 trees are examined in the survey, with each of their records kept in medical charts, just like for human patients. "As electric wires and houses have increased, these trees can no longer spread their branches freely like they did before the war. By shaping them in ways suited to the present time, we hope to allow those trees, our 'teachers' who experienced the war, to live out their lives," Kubota said. What all these efforts have in common is a desire to make Nagasaki "the last place on Earth to have suffered an atomic bombing." The areas around the hypocenter, once reduced to scorched ruins, are now filled with condominiums and schools, and bustling with people passing by. The people of Nagasaki continue their efforts in hopes that the cityscape will remain peaceful over the decades to come, even 100 or 150 years after the war. (Japanese original by Kaho Kitayama, Kyushu Photo and Video Department)
South China Morning Post
26-05-2025
- General
- South China Morning Post
In pictures: Nagasaki 80 years after the atomic bomb
Visitors in front of the Peace Statue at Nagasaki Peace Park. Photo: AP Visitors in front of the Peace Statue at Nagasaki Peace Park. Photo: AP share
