A man prays in front of a cenotaph for the victims of the the atomic bombing, in the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima on Thursday, the 64th anniversary of the world’s first atomic bombing.
REUTERS

Hiroshima mayor urges support for 'Obamajority' on nuclear-free world

Thursday 06th August, 09:42 AM JST

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Monoflow at 05:25 PM JST - 6th August

No chance for a nuclear free world, as long as America has something to do with it...
kwatt at 06:26 PM JST - 6th August

Why people are complaining/criticizing about the memorial ceremony? It is just a routine ceremony every year for Japanese people. Not for you! Leave them alone. I wonder what bothers you about it. All countries have same kinds of memorial ceremonies.
apecNetworks at 06:32 PM JST - 6th August

I hope people w/ good sense think hard of today's reality. A developing country can manufacture nuclear devices. This is a very dangerous trend, and Hiroshima stands as testament to the human struggle to keep the peace, for wars in the future is a bleak scenario.
presto345 at 07:18 PM JST - 6th August

The 6th of August is the day to commemorate those whose lives were terminated in an instant by the most horrendous weapon of all times. Allow those who survived and their descendants who will live with the memories the rest of their lives this day. The hard core of posters we by now recognize and claim to get sick by the respect shown to those who perished do not seem to realize that it is them who make others sick by their sick comments. Hiroshima and its citizens, Japan and its citizens suffered unbelievably. Under and because of a regime they could not change. What imperial Japan inflicted on other nations was also very wrong and horrible. But August 6 is not the day to commemorate that side of the war. I liked Akiba's speech. I believe his appeal and efforts are sincere. Please show a little respect like the 50,000 people who attended the ceremony.
medievaltimes at 10:14 PM JST - 6th August

and we call on the rest of the world to join forces with us to eliminate all nuclear weapons by 2020.

Great idea. Now how exactly does the world go about doing that (and enforcing it)?
medievaltimes at 10:17 PM JST - 6th August

Prime Minister Taro Aso attended the ceremony, vowing to strongly stand by Japan’s three antinuclear principles of not producing, possessing or allowing nuclear weapons on its soil.

Wasn't there something in the news recently about an uncovered secret agreement between the US and Japan regarding nuclear weapons on Japan's soil?
Sarge at 10:22 PM JST - 6th August

"nuclear-free world"

There isn't ever going to be a nuclear-free world. The genie is out of the bottle and it ain't goin' back in. Obama knows this, but oh, man, it sure does sound good to appeal for a nuclear-free world.
Patrick Smash at 11:52 PM JST - 6th August

Sarge, you're wrong actually. There will be a nuclear-free world when we invent something more devastating. It's only a matter of time.

Peace is a commodity purchased through blood and sacrifice. War is hell, but it ain't going away anyime soon.

August 6th is the day Japan commemorates the dead in Hiroshima. That's all there is to this ceromony. This does not deny the past as of itself.
amerijap at 04:37 AM JST - 7th August

Developing and possessing the nuclear weapons is one thing, and trading the weapons with other nations is quite another. Victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki will need to go beyond participating in the annual peace memorial to engage in an open-ended dialogue with an international community-- to lessen a huge gap in understanding the nuclear rhetoric and its politic between Japan and the US, as well as several nations possessing the nuclear weapons.
LastBestHope at 07:29 AM JST - 7th August

Another one suckered by Obama.
amerijap at 07:41 AM JST - 7th August

Another one suckered by Obama.

I don't understand what you mean by that. Although Obama is committed to the disarmament of nuclear weapons in the world, endorsing and implementing a comprehensive nuclear-freezing campaign is not an easy task for the US as well as other nations to achieve. One's personal commitment does not always take shape in concretizing actual politics, you know.
thedeath at 09:56 AM JST - 7th August

It is just a routine ceremony every year for Japanese people. Not for you!

Some of you better read the news and watch the news, they did not keep it in japan for japanese. They ask the world to recognize this and that, but skip the reason why they got nucked!

Hiroshima and its citizens, Japan and its citizens suffered unbelievably

Really? And the other did not suffer even a bit by the Japanese aggressive during the war? why skip all the truth? Just to show the world how suffers you are?

Why this people don't say who brought the destruction to japan if not the Japanese themselves? Don’t blame it all to the regime. Even germany got their own freedom/anti-war movement during WWII. thailand seem to help japan during the war but they too got their own anti-japanese war movement. what about japan?

Every documentary I see, everybook I read. There were no resistant in japan. Every one in the country seemed to support the aggression.

But when you loose the war all the sudden, it was all the regime’s fall! We were suffering. then later everyone in the world mush recognize our suffering. Let forget why we support the regime to go out invade and kill those Chinese, Korean, thai, malay, laos, on and on. These sick attitudes make me sick.

If you want August 6 to be the day to commemorate your side of the war, then keep it with you. stop cry out to the world as you do every sick aug.

I would never say a word if this people stop cryout for the world to recognize anything about aug6’s nukes day issue in japan.

I would support it, if this people would use aug6 to speak out about anti warfare in general and j-gov use aug6 indicating an apology for the killing and destruction this nation had done to the world and to her own people.

Once again look at germany why many people seem to forgive them, and they did not have to say how much they too suffer during the war they started.
chotto at 03:35 PM JST - 7th August

...and then they held a ceremony in rememberance of Nanking... oh wait.
The758 at 06:09 PM JST - 7th August

...and then they held a ceremony in rememberance of Nanking... oh wait.

And Wake, Guam, Saipan, the Philippines, Shanghai, Hong Kong, etc, etc, etc.
RedRoseAndy at 12:36 AM JST - 8th August

I maintain that it is up to us to build more windows of opportunity for disarmament.

We must first ensure that all politicians have the right mind set. The Democratic Party in the USA gives personality tests to those aspiring to lead, to ensure that they are up to the job.

Next, we must ensure that our politicians keep on track by monitoring their wealth in order to minimise corruption, making sure that their only income is from their job as a politician.

We must then break the strong bonds between politicians and the arms industry. We do this by ending the ability of the arms industry and armed forces to lobby politicians.

At the same time we prevent politicians from profiting from war. They must not be allowed to have stocks and shares in the arms industry or be arms dealers.

Once we have achieved this plan we will find that fewer wars break out and there is more disarmament, as more is done by politicians to prevent wars from occurring.