70 years after Hiroshima, a moment of silence

In three days the country will mark the 70th anniversary of the second atomic bomb, dropped on the city of Nagasaki.

He added: “To co-exist we must abolish the ultimate inhumanity that is nuclear weapons“. He said the world till bristles with more than 15,000 nuclear weapons.

And yet, despite the Cold War officially ending, atomic weapon testing is still being done in secret by some of the smaller nations, most notably North Korea, but with a special mention for Israel, which still continues to deny that it possesses such weapons of mass destruction, contrary to expert opinion.

During the ceremony, Hiroshima’s mayor, Kazumi Matsui, invited world leaders to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Dropping the bombs, which were developed under strict secrecy, was hugely popular with war-weary Americans at the time – and 70 years on, a majority today still think it was the right thing to do.

While some historians say that they prevented many more casualties in a planned land invasion, critics counter that the attacks were not necessary to end the war, arguing that Japan was already heading for imminent defeat.

The Japanese community in Winnipeg is marking a dark day in history – it was 70 years ago today that an atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Images of the attacks and their aftermath-mushroom clouds, ruined cities-have become unforgettable emblems of nuclear war, that along with the gripping stories of survivors-the hibakusha-have burned the weapons’ terrifying power into our minds. “Surely, you will be impelled to start discussing a legal framework, including a nuclear weapons convention”.

On Thursday at 8:15am, the exact time when the bomb, dropped by the US B-29 aircraft, the Enola Gay, exploded on 6 August, 1945, the crowd stood for a moment of silence.

350,000: Population of Hiroshima before the bombing, of which 40,000 were military personnel. The Japanese leader simply called for an end to the use of nuclear bombs.

Seven decades after the atomic bomb fell on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, a single pocket watch found amid the blast’s debris serves as a reminder. “Abe wants to normalise the status of his country, but without a full retrospection over Japan’s war crimes”, it said.

Abe attended the ceremony, echoing the call for an end to nuclear weapons.

After the ceremony, a group formed by victims of the atomic bombing expressed their hope that the government could retract the security bills but got a negative answer from the prime minister. The anniversary comes as Japan is divided over Abe’s push to pass unpopular legislation to expand the country’s military role internationally.