Mayor Takeshi Araki, marking the 45th anniversary Monday of the dropping of the first atomic bomb, called for the abolition of nuclear weapons and praised recent superpower steps toward disarmament.
"Today, Hiroshima's prayer has become the world's prayer," Araki told the 55,000 people Monday at Peace Memorial Park, site of the world's first atomic bombing.Noting that the Berlin Wall has fallen and arms reduction accords have been signed, Araki said, "Hiroshima has the highest regard for this tide of disarmament."
But he said all nuclear weapons tests should be halted immediately.
In a sign of the times, the U.S. and Soviet delegates to a women's peace conference in Hiroshima joined in laying a wreath at the peace park's memorial arch.
Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu pledged Japan would continue to seek the abolition of nuclear arms.
"It's important for all nations to promote disarmament," he said.
The ceremony honored the 140,000 who died in the bombing and nearly 30,000 who died of the after-effects of radiation.
Hiroshima was leveled in a split-second at 8:15 a.m. on Aug. 6, 1945, when a four-ton atom bomb nicknamed "Little Boy" detonated over the port city in southwestern Japan.
After a second atom bomb was dropped on Nagasaki three days later, Japan surrendered and World War II ended.
Many who gathered Monday before the flower-banked memorial arch seemed hopeful that with the Cold War over, disarmament was within reach.
"The possibility is there - absolutely. I just wish I knew how to convince them to make it happen," said Junko Sonezaki, a survivor of the bombing who now holds a seat in Parliament.
Sonezaki, who was a 7-year-old schoolgirl in 1945, recalled, "There was a flash and then I was hurled out of the school." Sister Karen Holkenson, an American nun and one of many foreigners attending the ceremony, said, "I believe that within the next decade, what the Japanese people are looking for in total nuclear disarmament will become a reality."
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Bombardier isn't sorry
The bombardier who dropped the atomic weapon that destroyed Hiroshima 45 years ago said he has no regrets or apologies, because his action ended World War II.
Thomas Ferebee, 71, told the Charlotte, N.C., Observer in an interview published Sunday that he did not know the blast he unleashed on Aug. 6, 1945, would wipe out the city and kill an estimated 140,000 people instantly.
Nor did he know that it would be an irrevocable turning point in history.
That summer morning 45 years ago, Ferebee, then 26, a native of Mocksville, N.C., knew he was getting ready to drop a special bomb, a secret weapon that could end the war.
"People have to go back and study the history of the war and the attitude of the people at that time," he said. "Everybody wanted the war to end. That's what I wanted the most. I wanted the bomb to work and end the war. So I felt good, since the first time we used it, it worked."