Hiroshima-Nagasaki Service at Koyasan

Some in Japan demand an apology from the United States for the 140,000 lives lost, but President Barack Obama did not give one when he paid tribute to the victims during a May trip to Hiroshima, ground zero of the world’s first nuclear attack.

No nation monopolizes “new and improved” weapons forever whatever lead it might have at any given time. We decry the fact that the USA government plans to commit a trillion dollars to modernize its existing nuclear arsenal over the next thirty years. Today, there are more than 15,000 nuclear weapons around the world.

The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum is also considering showing the footage to the public, describing it as a “valuable documentation”. For the Soka Gakkai Buddhist association, the struggle to abolish nuclear weapons has been continuing for almost 60 years. Reducing stockpiles is progress, but abolition is safer still.

The U.S. entered World War II after Japan’s surprise attack on military installations at Pearl Harbor; we exited after surprise attacks destroyed two Japanese cities. The ancient distinction between combatants and civilians-one a legitimate military target, the other not-had long since disappeared during what some call “The Good War”.

A “No First Use” policy would state that under no circumstances would the United States be the first country to use nuclear weapons.

This remains the case today as mass violence is just as likely to be directed against civilians as soldiers even when rules of engagement pay lip service to excluding civilians.

We apologize to the people of Japan – and to the survivors of the bombing, the hibakusha – for our country’s bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and we ask forgiveness for these atrocities.

It scared the world badly enough that nuclear weapons were not used in war again.