HIROSHIMA, JAPAN / RankWire.AI / – Hiroshima marked the 81st anniversary of the atomic bombing on Thursday with fresh calls for global nuclear disarmament. Mayor Kazumi Matsui led the annual Peace Memorial Ceremony at Peace Memorial Park. Survivors, families, Japanese officials and foreign delegates gathered near the Atomic Bomb Dome. At 8:15 a.m., a bell sounded at the exact time the bomb exploded on August 6, 1945. The crowd then observed a minute of silence for those who died.
Matsui used the city’s Peace Declaration to urge national leaders to move away from dependence on nuclear deterrence. He called on nuclear armed states to confront the human consequences of atomic warfare. Matsui also asked political leaders to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki and listen to survivors known as hibakusha. Their accounts have remained central to Hiroshima’s annual remembrance. The city has used the August 6 ceremony for decades to promote nuclear abolition and preserve the history of the bombing.
About 50,000 people attended this year’s ceremony. Representatives from 121 countries and regions joined the event, along with the European Union. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi attended for the first time since becoming Japan’s leader. She said Japan would follow a realistic course toward a world where nuclear weapons are never used. Takaichi pointed to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as a central framework for that work. She also referred to Japan’s established three non-nuclear principles.
Nuclear arms diplomacy remains under pressure
The commemoration came less than three months after the 2026 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference ended without a substantive consensus document. It was the third consecutive NPT review conference to close without agreement. Hiroshima highlighted the outcome as part of its appeal for stronger disarmament efforts. Japan continues to support the NPT system but has not joined the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. The country also relies on extended nuclear deterrence through its security alliance with the United States.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres also addressed the anniversary through a message delivered at the ceremony. UN disarmament chief Izumi Nakamitsu read it on his behalf. Guterres cited growing geopolitical divisions, mistrust and pressure on international arms control efforts. He said reductions in global nuclear arsenals that continued for decades have started to reverse. The United Nations called for diplomacy, dialogue, international law and multilateral cooperation as governments confront renewed nuclear risks and pursue the goal of disarmament.
Survivor testimony anchors Hiroshima remembrance
Japan officially recognizes 91,105 atomic bomb survivors, and their average age now stands above 86. The shrinking hibakusha population has increased efforts to record and preserve firsthand memories of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Survivors have described the blast, fires, radiation exposure and long-term health effects for generations. Many have also campaigned for the abolition of nuclear weapons. Children representing Hiroshima joined Thursday’s ceremony and presented a commitment to peace. The city continues to preserve survivor accounts through museums, education programs and memorial activities.
The Hiroshima bombing killed an estimated 140,000 people by the end of 1945. The United States dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki three days later, killing about 70,000 people by year’s end. Japan announced its surrender on August 15, bringing the war to an end. Hiroshima later developed Peace Memorial Park as a focal point for remembrance and peace education. On the 81st anniversary, the city again centered its message on nuclear abolition and the lasting human consequences of atomic warfare.