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Representatives of 68 nations and EU attend 69th Peace Memorial Ceremony in Hiroshima

by Yumi Kanazaki, Kyoji Matsumoto, and Junji Akechi, Staff Writers

The annual Peace Memorial Ceremony, with representatives from 68 nations and the European Union (EU) in attendance, was held in Peace Memorial Park in Naka Ward, Hiroshima, on August 6. Among those present was Caroline Kennedy, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, who was attending the ceremony for the first time. She showed a somber expression through the proceedings then departed the city without responding to the media.

Clad in a rain coat and using a headset for the English interpretation, Ms. Kennedy listened to the Peace Declaration, delivered by the mayor of Hiroshima, which referred to the experiences of A-bomb survivors, and the Commitment to Peace, read out by elementary school students.

After the ceremony, Ms. Kennedy released a statement from the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, which said: “This is a day for somber reflection and a renewed commitment to building a more peaceful world.”

This is the fifth consecutive year that the United States has sent a government representative to the ceremony, since former ambassador John Roos first attended the event in 2010. At that time, Mr. Roos released a statement, saying: “For the sake of future generations, we must continue to work together to realize a world without nuclear weapons.” But this year’s statement did not touch upon “a world without nuclear weapons,” as U.S. President Barack Obama once championed.

In 1978, at the age of 20, Ms. Kennedy visited Peace Memorial Park with her uncle, the late Edward Kennedy, a U.S. senator.

(Originally published on August 7, 2014)

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