TOKYO: Japan on August 6,  marked the 77th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima that took place in the final days of the Second World War.

 A moment of silence was observed at 8:15 a.m., the exact time a uranium bomb dropped from a US bomber exploded over the city on August 6, 1945, killing over 140,000 people by the end of the year and exposing many more to dangerous radiation.

Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui issued a warning during a mourning service at the Peace Memorial Park, stating that the global reliance on nuclear deterrence is growing. He declared, "We must instantly make all nuclear buttons useless."

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, ambassadors from 99 nations, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who attended the ceremony for the first time in 12 years, were also present. Guterres warned that a new weapons race is accelerating in his speech.

Asserting the three principles of not having, producing, or allowing the entry of nuclear weapons into the nation, the prime minister declared that "Japan would pursue this goal notwithstanding global security tensions."

Public broadcaster NHK reports that more than 3,000 spectators attended the ceremony, a significant rise from the attendance in the opening two years of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and 2021.

After adding the names of 4,978 persons who died or were verified dead during the past year, officials re-posted a list of the bombing victims in a cenotaph. The current total is 333,907.

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