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US attends Hiroshima bombing ceremony for first time
Source: Agencies |
August 6, 2010, Friday
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Online Edition
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Japan marked the 65th anniversary of the US atomic bombing of Hiroshima today with the United States represented at the ceremony for the first time.
A peace bell tolled at 8:15am, the time the bomb was dropped by the US B-29 warplane Enola Gay on August 6, 1945, as tens of thousands of elderly survivors, children and dignitaries held a minute of silence under the burning summer sun.
"Clearly, the urgency of nuclear weapons abolition is permeating our global conscience," Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba said in a speech followed by the release of white doves.
Japan often refers to its position as the only country to have suffered nuclear attacks when calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons. The United States dropped a second atomic bomb on the southern city of Nagasaki days after the one on Hiroshima.
But Prime Minister Naoto Kan reaffirmed the need for Japan to stay under the US "nuclear umbrella", highlighting the paradox of Japan's dependence on Washington's nuclear capability even as it shuns the possession of such weapons.
"I think that nuclear deterrence continues to be necessary for our nation at a time when there are unclear and uncertain factors," Kyodo news agency quoted Kan as saying after the ceremony.
Japan's US-drafted 1947 constitution prohibits the country from maintaining armed forces or waging war, although it has been interpreted as allowing armed forces for purely defense purposes.
The United States, now Japan's biggest security ally, sent a representative to the ceremony for the first time, reflecting the two countries' close ties and President Barack Obama's push to rid the world of nuclear weapons.
"For the sake of future generations, we must continue to work together to realize a world without nuclear weapons," US Ambassador John Roos said in a statement.
A peace bell tolled at 8:15am, the time the bomb was dropped by the US B-29 warplane Enola Gay on August 6, 1945, as tens of thousands of elderly survivors, children and dignitaries held a minute of silence under the burning summer sun.
"Clearly, the urgency of nuclear weapons abolition is permeating our global conscience," Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba said in a speech followed by the release of white doves.
Japan often refers to its position as the only country to have suffered nuclear attacks when calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons. The United States dropped a second atomic bomb on the southern city of Nagasaki days after the one on Hiroshima.
But Prime Minister Naoto Kan reaffirmed the need for Japan to stay under the US "nuclear umbrella", highlighting the paradox of Japan's dependence on Washington's nuclear capability even as it shuns the possession of such weapons.
"I think that nuclear deterrence continues to be necessary for our nation at a time when there are unclear and uncertain factors," Kyodo news agency quoted Kan as saying after the ceremony.
Japan's US-drafted 1947 constitution prohibits the country from maintaining armed forces or waging war, although it has been interpreted as allowing armed forces for purely defense purposes.
The United States, now Japan's biggest security ally, sent a representative to the ceremony for the first time, reflecting the two countries' close ties and President Barack Obama's push to rid the world of nuclear weapons.
"For the sake of future generations, we must continue to work together to realize a world without nuclear weapons," US Ambassador John Roos said in a statement.
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