August 6, 2010
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Friday August 6th marks the 65th anniversary of the US dropping of an atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
US Ambassador to Japan John Roos became the first official representing the United States to attend the annual ceremony in Hiroshima. UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon also attended.
The ceremony started at 8 AM, and a list with the names of the 269,446 bomb victims was placed in a cenotaph. The list grew by 5,501 from 2009 after including those who died in the past year or whose deaths were confirmed.The participants observed a moment of silence at 8:15 AM, the exact time the bomb was dropped in 1945.
In his peace declaration, Hiroshima City Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba urged the Japanese government to take the leadership in concrete action aimed at the abolition of nuclear arms.
Representatives of 74 countries, the largest number ever, took part in the ceremony. The US, Britain and France, countries that have nuclear weapons, sent their envoys for the first time.
Hiroshima will hold various events throughout the day to promote peace and the elimination of nuclear arms.
2010/08/06 09:21(JST)
(JST: UTC+9hrs.)
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