Nagasaki urges weapons ban
2005-08-09 08:25
Nagasaki, Japan - A siren wailed and a bronze bell rang out through the air on Tuesday as Nagasaki marked the exact moment 60 years ago when an American airplane appeared in its skies and dropped the plutonium bomb "Fat Man," killing some 80 000 people and sealing Japan's defeat in World War 2.
About 6 000 people, including hundreds of aging bomb survivors, crowded into Nagasaki's Peace Memorial Park, just a few hundred meters from the centre of the blast, for a solemn remembrance and moment of silence.
When the silence ended, Nagasaki Mayor Iccho Itoh had some angry words for the leaders of the nuclear powers, and especially the United States.
"To the citizens of the United States of America: We understand your anger and anxiety over the memories of the horror of the 9-11 terrorist attacks," he said.
"Yet, is your security enhanced by your government's policies of maintaining 10 000 nuclear weapons, of carrying out repeated sub-critical nuclear tests, and of pursuing the development of new 'mini' nuclear weapons?"
Itoh also urged Japan to get out from under the United States' "nuclear umbrella." About 50 000 US troops are deployed throughout Japan under a post World War 2 mutual security pact.
Remembering the dead
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi placed a wreath before the monument to the dead, and bowed deeply.
"This is an occasion to remember the victims, and pray for world peace," he said.
Tuesday's remembrances began just after sunrise, as hundreds of Catholics joined in a special Mass at Urakami Cathedral, which at the time of the bombing was the largest in Asia with 12 000 parishioners - 8 500 of whom are believed to have been killed.
When the cloudy sky lit up in a sudden flash at 11:02, two priests were hearing confessions inside the cathedral and 30 faithful were inside. Everyone in the church died and the statues around them turned black because of the intense heat.
Nagasaki 'not' a primary target
Ironically, Nagasaki was not a primary target.
Three days after the Enola Gay dropped the "Little Boy" bomb on Hiroshima, killing at least 140 000 in the world's first atomic bomb attack, Bock's Car took off to deliver the second A-bomb to the nearby city of Kokura.
Kokura was hidden under a thick cover of smoke. The plane circled three times, then changed course for Nagasaki, where it also encountered thick clouds.
With dwindling fuel, the pilot nearly turned around - but then the clouds broke. Japan surrendered on August 15 1945, ending World War 2.
Nagasaki's devastation has been overshadowed by Hiroshima, where some 55 000 people swarmed into that city's Peace Memorial Park to mark the 60th anniversary of the attack last week.
The people here, however, have not forgotten.
- AP