-A Year of Remembrance and Action, Hiroshima Mayor's Peace Declaration

On the 6th, the 59th anniversary of the US atomic bombing, a Peace Memorial Ceremony was held in Peace Memorial Park (Naka-ku, Hiroshima). Forty-five thousand people attended, 5,000 more than last year (city estimate). At 8:15 a.m., the time the atomic bomb exploded, all joined in a minute of silence. The Peace Declaration presented by Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba revolved around the key words "remembrance" and "action," as he pledged to rekindle the memory of the atomic bombings, to pass on the legacy and hold that experience in common to plant seeds of hope for the abolition of nuclear weapons leading up to the sixtieth anniversary next year.

The ceremony began at 8:00 a.m. Mayor Akiba and two representatives of bereaved families replaced the Register of the Past in the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims containing the names of 5,142 A-bomb victims whose deaths were confirmed this year. With these additions, the total number of names in the Register rose to 237,062 victims in 83 volumes.

In his Peace Declaration, Mayor Akiba criticized the US government's "egocentrism" as revealed in its resumption of research on small nuclear weapons. He also criticized continuing terrorism and North Korea's nuclear program as examples of a world still caught in "chains of violence and retaliation." He then declared the year leading up to the 60th anniversary as a Year of Remembrance and Action for a Nuclear-Free World, the primary milestone of which will be the NPT Review Conference in May next year.

He demanded that the Japanese government "protect the Peace Constitution," as well as improve assistance to all hibakusha, including those living abroad or exposed in black rain areas. He also pledged that the A-bombed cities would strengthen efforts to pass on the A-bomb experience to future generations through promotion of the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Peace Study Course and a special project to encourage the reading of A-bomb accounts.

For the fourth consecutive year, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi attended the ceremony. In his greeting, he said, "As the only A-bombed nation, we will guard the Peace Constitution and abide by the Three Non-Nuclear Principles. I will do everything in my power to abolish nuclear weapons." Nobuyasu Abe, UN Under-Secretary General for Disarmament Affairs, read a message from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Representing children in the A-bombed city, Kouya Yurino (11) in the 6th grade at Kameyama-minami Elementary School (Asakita-ku) and Saki Kawada (11) in the 6th grade at Danbara Elementary School (Minami-ku) read the Commitment to Peace. Reading with composure and passion, they communicated their determination to take on the legacy of the atomic bombing and convey it to the world.

The blazing sun stung the skin. The sound of cicadas filled the park as participants perspired. The seats in the back where, for the first time, the city provided large tents for shade filled up first. To avoid the crowds, many survivors and bereaved family members came at dawn to present flowers and incense to the A-bomb Memorial Cenotaph.

(Caption)When the Peace Bell is struck in the Peace Memorial Ceremony at 8:15, boys on the Bridge faces the A-bomb Dome and places his palms together in prayer. The prayers of persons gathered in the Park are diverse. (Hiroshi Omura)