Hiroshima Marks 70th A-bomb Anniversary Amid Fears Of Eroded Pacifism

HIROSHIMA, JAPAN - AUG. 6: Hiroshima marked the 70th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of the city on Thursday, with Mayor Kazumi Matsui urging world leaders to renew their resolve to abolish nuclear weapons and pursue peace as embodied in Japan's war-renouncing Constitution. At a memorial ceremony in the western city, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe joined Matsui in highlighting the role Japan should fulfill as the only country to have suffered nuclear attacks, but did not touch on the ongoing defense policy shift that has drawn criticism from atomic bomb survivors as eroding Japan's pacifism. In sweltering heat, around 55,000 people gathered at the Peace Memorial Park and held a moment of silence at 8:15 a.m., the exact moment the atomic bomb detonated over the city on Aug. 6, 1945, killing an estimated 140,000 people by the end of the year. Also present were representatives from a record 100 nations, including the United States, which in an unprecedented move sent a high-level official from Washington to join the event along with U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy. The number of hibakusha in and outside Japan -- atomic bomb survivors with documents certifying that they experienced the terrible bombing 70 years ago -- stood at 183,519 in March this year, nearly half of its peak of 372,264 in 1980, according to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry. Their average age exceeded 80 for the first time this year.