How it unfolded

1. Aug 8 Event Nagasaki 81st anniversary ceremony

   Nagasaki marked the 81st anniversary of the August 9, 1945 atomic bombing, which killed 70,000 people by year's end. Representatives from over 90 countries attended the ceremony at the Peace Park.

2. Reaction Nagasaki mayor calls nuclear weapons 'absolute evil'

   Mayor Shiro Suzuki denounced nuclear deterrence as dangerous and fragile, directly addressing leaders of nuclear states and those relying on nuclear deterrence.

   “Nuclear weapons are not a 'necessary evil' but an 'absolute evil,' and can never coexist with humanity”

3. Reaction Mayor demands Japan uphold non-nuclear principles

   Suzuki singled out the Japanese government, demanding it uphold its war-renouncing Constitution, attend the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons review conference, and stick to the three non-nuclear principles.

4. Analysis Takaichi remains ambiguous on nuclear policy

   Prime Minister Takaichi attended the Nagasaki ceremony and reiterated a 'realistic and pragmatic approach' to nuclear disarmament but remained ambiguous about committing to the three non-nuclear principles long-term, only stating Japan currently maintains the policy.

5. Reaction Survivors frustrated by government's nuclear deterrence support

   Atomic bomb survivors (hibakusha) have expressed frustration and criticized the Japanese government's support for nuclear deterrence as insincere, with their concerns prompted by speculation about Takaichi easing the non-nuclear principles.

6. Aug 5 Event Hiroshima 81st anniversary ceremony

   Prime Minister Takaichi attended the Hiroshima Peace Memorial ceremony, where a minute of silence was held at 8:15 a.m., marking 81 years since the bombing that killed 140,000 people.

   “The devastation caused by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the indescribable suffering endured by so many people, must never be repeated”

7. Reaction Hiroshima mayor criticizes nuclear deterrence

   Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui urged major powers to stop justifying nuclear weapons as a method of deterrence, warning that accepting force for prosperity risks cycles of violent retaliation.

   “Downplaying the inhumanity of nuclear weapons and accepting the use of force to pursue one's own prosperity risk cycles of violent retaliation that could ultimately result in another Hiroshima or Nagasaki”