Nagasaki marks 55th anniversary of atomic
bombing
By Kakumi Kobayashi
NAGASAKI, Aug. 9 Kyodo - Nagasaki commemorated
Wednesday the 55th anniversary of the U.S.
atomic bombing of the southwestern Japanese
city Aug. 9, 1945, with a call for the nuclear
powers to begin multilateral talks immediately
for the early conclusion of a treaty banning
nuclear weapons.
The city's Mayor Itcho Ito made the plea
in addressing a ceremony attended by about
4,000 people at Nagasaki Peace Park, near
the point where the bomb exploded, killing
an estimated 73,800 people.
Ito recounted the horrors of the bombing,
saying, ''Heat rays with an intensity on
the ground of several thousand degrees Celsius
instantly burned people's bodies, charring
them black (while) invisible radiation invaded
and destroyed people's cells and tissues,
swiftly resulting in yet more death.''
Nagasaki is 300 kilometers southwest of Hiroshima,
the first city to fall victim to a U.S. atomic
attack. An estimated 140,000 people died
as a result of the Hiroshima bombing, which
took place three days before the devastation
of Nagasaki in the closing stages of World
War II.
''Nagasaki has remained the last battlefield
where nuclear weapons have been used, with
the unspeakably tragic experiences of Nagasaki
and Hiroshima having served as preventative
forces,'' Ito said in his peace declaration.
Ito also welcomed the commitment made in
May by the five major nuclear-armed states
to the goal of eliminating all nuclear weapons
and the ideal of a general and complete disarmament.
''The voices of concerned people from around
the world were successful in eliciting agreement
from the nuclear-weapons states,'' he said.
At 11:02 a.m., set by the city as the time
of the bombing, attendees made a silent and
nonsectarian prayer as a bell resounded through
the park in downtown Nagasaki under the scorching
sun.
Representatives from seven of Japan's leading
political parties, including two party leaders,
attended the ceremony, as did House of Representatives
Vice Speaker Kozo Watanabe and House of Councillors
Vice President Hisamitsu Sugano.
Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori noted in his
address that nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs) will gather for a meeting titled the
Nagasaki Global Citizens Assembly for the
Elimination of Nuclear Weapons in the fall.
At the beginning of the ceremony, Ito and
two citizens symbolically placed on a stage
three books listing 2,603 people whom the
city office has newly recognized as victims
of the bombing over the period between Aug.
1 last year and July 31 this year.
Akio Nakashima, an atomic bomb survivor who
was 18 when the bomb was dropped, read out
a ''pledge for peace'' and a poem.
''Under the perfect blue sky, I speak to
the children. Rid all countries of days of
war! Shake hands firmly and sing a song to
peace, love, friendship and the gleam of
life!'' the poem read.
==Kyodo
