Japan Commemorates 80 Years Since Nagasaki Atomic Bombing

NAGASAKI, Japan — On Saturday, Nagasaki, a city in southern Japan, remembered 80 years since the U.S. atomic bombing that killed countless people. Survivors hope that by sharing their painful memories, Nagasaki will remain the last location ever struck by a nuclear weapon.

The Nagasaki bombing by the United States occurred on August 9, 1945, resulting in 70,000 deaths by year’s end, just three days after the Hiroshima bombing killed 140,000. Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945, which concluded World War II and ended the nation’s nearly 50-year period of aggression across Asia.

Approximately 2,600 attendees, including delegates from over 90 countries, gathered at a memorial in Nagasaki Peace Park. Speakers such as Mayor Shiro Suzuki and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba spoke at the event. At 11:02 a.m., marking the exact moment the plutonium bomb detonated over Nagasaki, attendees observed a minute of silence as a bell tolled.

“The atomic bomb caused unseen fear even after the war,” remembered 93-year-old survivor Hiroshi Nishioka during his speech at the memorial, mentioning that many who initially survived without major injuries began to experience gum bleeding and hair loss, eventually leading to death.

“Never use nuclear weapons again, or we’re finished,” he said.

Following a speech by Suzuki, during which several doves, representing peace, were released, he shared that the bombing’s impact on the city is “a shared legacy that must be passed down for future generations,” both within Japan and globally.

“The human existential crisis has come to concern each one of us on Earth,” stated Suzuki. “To ensure Nagasaki remains the final site of atomic bombing, we shall unite with global citizens and commit our fullest efforts toward eliminating nuclear weapons and achieving perpetual world peace.”

Survivors and their families gathered Saturday in rainy weather at Peace Park and nearby Hypocenter Park, located below the bomb’s exact detonation spot, hours before the official ceremony.

“I simply seek a world without war,” said Koichi Kawano, an 85-year-old survivor who laid flowers at the hypocenter monument decorated with colorful origami paper cranes and other offerings.

Some others prayed at churches in Nagasaki, home to Catholic converts who went deep underground during centuries of violent persecution in Japan’s feudal era.

The twin bells at Urakami Cathedral, which was destroyed in the bombing, also rang together again after one of the bells that had gone missing following the attack was restored by volunteers.

Despite their pain from wounds, discrimination and illnesses from radiation, survivors have publicly committed to a shared goal of abolishing nuclear weapons. But they worry about the world moving in the opposite direction.

Aging survivors and their supporters in Nagasaki now put their hopes of achieving nuclear weapons abolition in the hands of younger people, telling them the attack isn’t distant history, but an issue that remains relevant to their future.

“There are only two things I long for: the abolition of nuclear weapons and prohibition of war,” said Fumi Takeshita, an 83-year-old survivor. “I seek a world where nuclear weapons are never used and everyone can live in peace.”

In the hope of passing down the lessons of history to current and future generations, Takeshita visits schools to share her experience with children.

“When you grow up and remember what you learned today, please think what each of you can do to prevent war,” Takeshita told students during a school visit earlier this week.

Teruko Yokoyama, an 83-year-old member of a Nagasaki organization supporting survivors, said that she thinks of the growing absence of those she had worked with, and that fuels her desire to document the lives of others who are still alive.

The number of survivors has fallen to 99,130, about a quarter of the original number, with their average age exceeding 86. Survivors worry about fading memories, as the youngest of the survivors were too young to clearly recall the attack.

“We must keep records of the atomic bombing damages of the survivors and thier lifetime story,” said Yokoyama, whose two sisters died after suffering illnesses linked to radiation.

Her organization has started to digitize the narratives of survivors for viewing on YouTube and other social media platforms with the help of a new generation.

“There are younger people who are beginning to take action,” Yokoyama told The Associated Press on Friday. “So I think we don’t have to get depressed yet.”

Nagasaki hosted a “peace forum” on Friday where survivors shared their stories with more than 300 young people from around the country. Seiichiro Mise, a 90-year-old survivor, said that he’s handing seeds of “flowers of peace” to the younger generation in hopes of seeing them bloom.

Survivors are frustrated by a growing nuclear threat and support among international leaders for developing or possessing nuclear weapons for deterrence. They criticize the Japanese government’s refusal to sign or even participate in the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons as an observer because Japan, as an American ally, says it needs U.S. nuclear possession as deterrence.

In Ishiba’s speech, the prime minister reiterated Japan’s pursuit of a nuclear-free world, pledging to promote dialogue and cooperation between countries with nuclear weapons and nonnuclear states at the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons review conference scheduled for April and May 2026 in New York. Ishiba didn’t mention the nuclear weapons ban treaty.

“Countries must move from words to action by strengthening the global disarmament regime,” with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, or NPT, at the center, complemented by the momentum created by the nuclear weapons ban treaty, said U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, in his message read by Under-Secretary-General Izumi Nakamitsu in Nagasaki.

Nagasaki invited representatives from all countries to attend the ceremony on Saturday. The government in China notably notified the city that it wouldn’t be present without providing a reason.

The ceremony last year stirred controversy because of the absence of the U.S. ambassador and other Western envoys in response to the Japanese city’s refusal to invite officials from Israel.

Copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.