By Shinya Ajima

NAGASAKI, Aug. 9 Kyodo, Masatoshi Tsunenari, one of the few who survived atomic bombing of his city 59 years ago, took to the podium this year in Nagasaki to pass down his memories to future generations.

The city governments of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are working to come up with new ways to share the memories of the atomic bombings as many of the survivors are dying off.

The average age of victims of the Hiroshima bombing as of March was 72.2 and that for Nagasaki victims was 71.7, and thousands of registered radiation victims are passing away every year.

''I stood up, looked around, but couldn't find a trace of any soul. I couldn't figure out what had happened,'' said 75-year-old Tsunenari as he spoke before thousands of people, including many children and young students, at an annual memorial ceremony on Monday marking the 59th anniversary the U.S. atomic bombing of the city.

''The summer sun had lost its brilliance, and I saw endless plumes of smoke enveloping flames drifting up into a dark sky,'' Tsunenari said, tracing the memory of what happened to him on Aug. 9, 1945.

He was 16 years old and working in a munitions factory when the bomb was dropped. The bombing and its immediate aftereffects left estimated 74,000 dead by the end of 1945 and 75,000 others injured.

Among a handful of A-bomb survivors in Nagasaki, Tsunenari was selected as a representative this year to read the ''Pledge for Peace'' to pass on the victims' messages to the younger generations.

But as fewer victims remain alive, local officials are growing worried about how to pass down their experiences.

''We are all scared that young people will lose their interest due to lack of direct access to the radiation victims,'' said Yoshitaka Inoue, deputy chief of the city government-affiliated Hiroshima Peace Institute.

As part of efforts to preserve the memories of survivors, the Hiroshima and Nagasaki mayors, who lead the Mayors for Peace, an organization composed of 611 mayors in 109 countries, are striving to preserve the messages of the victims within an academic framework.

They are working to set up ''the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Peace Study Course'' at universities around the world to ensure that future generations will understand the inhumanity of nuclear weapons and the cruelty of war, according to city officials.

But Japanese peace and humanitarian groups have voiced concerns that survivors do not want to relive their experiences.

''Generally, A-bomb survivors do not want to talk about what they experienced because they have to recall the experience whenever they talk,'' said Atsuko Oe, who leads a peace group in Hiroshima.

Oe added that many of them also suffer from survivor's guilt because they survived while so many perished, and they could not help those suffering in their midst.

''They were desperately begging for water. But I couldn't even respond to one person's request for help or water,'' Tsunenari told the audience. ''No amount of pain or apologizing can make me forget what I couldn't do at that time.''

But he seemed to have overcome his nightmare and decided to fulfill his mission. He said the world must ensure that Nagasaki remains as the world's last victim of a nuclear attack.

''I pledge to continue to pass on the preciousness of life and peace to the future generations responsible for new societies,'' he said.

2004-08-09 11:45:10JST