"This existential crisis of humanity has become imminent to each and every one of us living on Earth," Suzuki said in a peace declaration read during the annual ceremony, stressing the destructive cycle of “confrontation and fragmentation” gripping the world.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba reaffirmed Japan’s policy of not possessing, producing, or allowing the deployment of nuclear weapons, pledging that Tokyo would work to lead international efforts toward “a world without nuclear war and a world without nuclear weapons.”
On August 9, 1945, the United States dropped the plutonium bomb “Fat Man” on the port city of Nagasaki at 11:02 a.m. local time, just days after unleashing another nuclear bomb on Hiroshima.
The attack claimed the lives of 74,000 people in Nagasaki, in what remains one of the gravest crimes committed during the war.
Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945, ending World War II.
This year’s commemoration at Nagasaki Peace Park, near the hypocenter of the blast, was attended by representatives from 94 countries and regions.
Last year, attendance reached a record 100 countries and regions, but the event drew controversy when the city excluded Israeli regime over its ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip — a decision that led the US and other G7 ambassadors to boycott the ceremony.
This year, the city sent invitations to all nations with diplomatic missions in Japan.