By Shinya Ajima

HIROSHIMA, Aug. 6 Kyodo, Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba voiced serious concern Friday over what he called the United States' ''egocentric worldview'' and moves in Japan to revise the country's pacifist Constitution.

''The egocentric worldview of the U.S. government is reaching extremes,'' Akiba said in this year's Peace Declaration at a memorial service marking the 59th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of the city.

''Ignoring the United Nations and…international law, the United States has resumed research to make nuclear weapons smaller and more usable,'' Akiba said.

Under intense summer sun, an estimated 45,000 people attended the ceremony, which began at 8 a.m. in Peace Memorial Park in the western Japanese city. Hiroshima was devastated in the world's first nuclear attack on Aug. 6, 1945, during the closing days of World War II.

''The Japanese government, as our representative, should defend the peace Constitution, of which all Japanese should be proud, and work diligently to rectify the trend toward open acceptance of war and nuclear weapons that is increasingly prevalent at home and abroad,'' Akiba said.

''We demand that our government act on its obligation as the only country to suffer atomic bombings,'' he said.

Akiba appeared to want to stir up debate on the issue of revising the Constitution as senior lawmakers in both Japan's governing and opposition coalitions favor the revision.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, speaking after Akiba, vowed to maintain the Constitution and Japan's three avowed principles of not producing, possessing, or allowing nuclear weapons on its soil.

''We will press for moves for nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation,'' Koizumi said.

Japan ''will make every effort to achieve the total elimination of nuclear weapons by more strongly urging governments of other countries to quickly ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty,'' he said, offering his condolences to A-bomb victims.

Koizumi received thin applause after the speech and was even booed by some in the crowd.

Article 9 of Japan's Constitution stipulates that the Japanese people ''forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.''

Hiroshima Mayor Akiba is a former House of Representatives member of the opposition Social Democratic Party, which opposes revising the Constitution and Japan's dispatch of troops to Iraq.

Last month, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage reportedly said that the article hinders the Japan-U.S. alliance. He apparently backtracked later as the remark drew strong criticism from Japanese lawmakers.

The 59th anniversary comes at a time concern about nuclear issues has intensified globally.

Multilateral efforts are under way to deal with North Korea's nuclear ambitions, while Iran has come under international pressure to allow inspections of its nuclear facilities by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog.

Expressing hope for the success of the 2005 Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the declaration addressed Hiroshima's determination to the initiative in achieving the complete abolition of nuclear weapons by bringing together cities, citizens and nongovernmental organizations from around the world.

The initiative, called the Emergency Campaign to Ban Nuclear Weapons, aims at adopting an action program incorporating an interim goal of ''the signing in 2010 of a Nuclear Weapons Convention to serve as the framework for eliminating nuclear weapons by 2020,'' according to Akiba.

Among those attending the ceremony were Pakistani Ambassador Kamran Niaz and Russian Ambassador Alexander Losyukov.

U.N. Undersecretary General Nobuyasu Abe attended on behalf of U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan.

In a written message to the Hiroshima city government, Annan expressed particular concern about ''the existence of clandestine networks dealing in nuclear materials and the prospect of terrorists with extreme ambitions gaining access to these materials.''

''The goal of a nuclear weapons-free world is still a long way off,'' Annan said.

The Hiroshima city government had asked seven nuclear countries -- Britain, China, France, India, Pakistan, Russia and the United States -- as well as North Korea to send government delegates to the ceremony, but only Pakistan and Russia accepted.

Thousands of A-bomb survivors, mostly in their 70s, members of their families, journalists from the Japanese and foreign media, and peace activists endured the hot, humid weather to attend the memorial ceremony.

''Japan should not become what it used to be during the days of war,'' said Makiko Kawamura, an A-bomb survivor.

''I feel pain from the past and share that with people while honoring lost people and survivors,'' said Kevin Buzzacott, who was visiting Hiroshima from Australia.

An American university student, Nathaniel Hay, came to the city to see ''what has happened here.''

Calling into question the U.S. argument that the atomic bombings had helped end the war and saved many lives, Hay said, ''Younger generation…my generation, I think, definitely have more view that it wasn't necessary.''

At 8:15 a.m., the time the atomic bomb was detonated in the air at an altitude of about 600 meters over the city, participants closed their eyes and held a minute of silence.

Afterward, a number of white and gray doves were released representing hopes for peace.

''Unfortunately,'' Akiba said, ''the human race still lacks both a lexicon capable of fully expressing that disaster and sufficient imagination to bridge the gap.''

The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and its aftereffects killed an estimated 140,000 people by the end of 1945.

This year, the names of 5,142 more people the city has recognized as atomic-bomb victims since Aug. 6 last year were added to a memorial arch, bringing the total to 237,062.

Nagasaki is to hold a similar memorial ceremony Monday.

2004-08-06 12:52:40JST