People came to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park from the wee hours of August 6 to remember the victims of the atomic bombing by the United States.

The average age of the atomic bomb survivors, called hibakusha in Japanese, stood at 85 years old as of the end of March 2024.

80-year-old hibakusha / This year may be the last for me. 

Hiroshima Mayor Matsui Kazumi / It seems to me that these global tragedies are deepening distrust and fear among nations, reinforcing the public assumption that...we have to rely on military force, which we should be rejecting.

The mayor’s peace declaration comes amid escalating global insecurity due to issues including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Russia-Ukraine war. He called on citizens to take action to encourage policy changes in countries that rely on nuclear deterrence. 

Representatives of the hibakusha A-bomb survivors met with Prime Minister Kishida Fumio following the ceremony and urged him to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. 

Prime Minister Kishida Fumio / I believe that Japan’s concrete efforts will be how close we can bring the nuclear weapon states to a world without nuclear weapons. 

Kishida did not talk about whether or not Japan will join the treaty.