Exactly at 8:15 this Wednesday, the same time the American B-29 bomber dropped the atomic bomb 80 years ago, Hiroshima fell silent. As on every anniversary, the bells rang at the Peace Memorial Park. Also, sirens sounded throughout the city. Inside homes and offices, as is customary, neighbors and workers observed a minute of silence for the victims.
Hiroshima rose from the ashes of the nuclear holocaust to become a prosperous, clean, and orderly metropolis of almost one and a half million inhabitants. But the reconstructed streets still hide many invisible scars. No matter how much time passes, this city will always be a living reminder of what humanity must never repeat.
Like every August 6, the ruins of the Genbaku Dome, the domed building that was the only one left standing near the bomb's explosion site, was the chosen setting for a solemn ceremony that recalled the moment when the "Little Boy" bomb was detonated about 600 meters above ground with a force equivalent to 15,000 tons of TNT. Between 60,000 and 80,000 people died instantly. This number rose to 140,000 by the end of 1945 due to burns and illnesses caused by radiation exposure. Three days after the bombing of Hiroshima, the Americans dropped a plutonium bomb on Nagasaki, killing 74,000 people.
"In some countries, policymakers still accept the idea that nuclear weapons are essential for national defense. But what is really necessary is to seriously embrace the pacifist spirit of Hiroshima," said Kazumi Matsui, Mayor of Hiroshima, during a commemorative event attended by 55,000 people.
Many hibakusha, the bomb survivors, were present. Also in attendance were Japanese Prime Minister, Shigeru Ishiba, as well as a record representation of 120 countries. Notably absent were two nuclear powers like Russia and China, which have not sent diplomats in recent anniversaries. Representatives from Taiwan and Palestine participated for the first time, despite not being recognized by the host as sovereign states. The event, as usual, was attended by the U.S. ambassador, a country that has never formally apologized for the massacre.
"Divisions within the international community on nuclear disarmament are deepening, and the current security environment is becoming increasingly severe," stated Japanese leader Ishiba.
Several hibakusha approached the memorial cenotaph for a floral offering with the ruins of the domed building in the background. The legacy of the elderly survivors is fading as the years go by. This 2025, for the first time, the number of those still alive dropped below 100,000. In March, there were 99,130, with an average age of 86 years. Only one of the 78 confirmed individuals who were within 500 meters of the explosion's hypocenter in Hiroshima is still alive.
The organization representing the hibakusha, Nihon Hidankyo, won the Nobel Peace Prize last year for its efforts to achieve a nuclear-free world and to demonstrate through testimony that this weaponry should never be used again. "We don't have much time as we face a greater nuclear threat than ever," the group stated in a release. "I am infinitely sad and angry because the nuclear taboo is threatened to be broken," expressed one of the organization's co-presidents, also a hibakusha, Terumi Tanaka (93 years old), during the Nobel ceremony.
"There is a rapid trend towards increased militarization worldwide," Mayor Matsui stated in his Wednesday speech, citing the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the current conflicts in the Middle East. "These events blatantly ignore the lessons that the international community should have learned from the tragedies of history and threaten to dismantle the frameworks for peace consolidation that many have worked hard to build."
Every anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing is used to make a call against nuclear weapons. However, the concerning reality is that the nine nuclear states in the world are investing more money than ever in modernizing their arsenals. Just a few days ago, Donald Trump ordered the deployment of two nuclear submarines near Russia. This happened after former Russian leader Dmitri Medvédev published a threatening comment in X suggesting that Moscow would be ready to launch a nuclear attack as tensions rise due to the war in Ukraine.
In the past three months, U.S. fighter jets have attacked nuclear facilities in Iran; India and Pakistan, two nuclear powers, were on the brink of total war after several direct military clashes with artillery and bombings; and the regime of Kim Jong-un continues to advance its nuclear program with Russia's assistance.
Even in Japan, where a historic rearmament was approved a couple of years ago, breaking with the pacifist tradition inherited from the postwar period, there are growing calls, particularly among groups of retired Self-Defense Forces officers and the growing far-right movements, to break with the nuclear taboo in light of the volatile security environment (the country is surrounded by China, Russia, and North Korea, three nations with nuclear weapons).
The latest report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), one of the leading centers on defense and armaments, noted that nuclear-armed states are strengthening their atomic arsenals and abandoning arms control agreements, creating a new era of threats that has put an end to the arms reduction policy that was established after the Cold War.
Experts point out that the Hiroshima bomb would be considered a low-yield nuclear weapon by today's standards. The largest nuclear weapon in the US arsenal is 80 times more powerful than the one that destroyed the Japanese city.
SIPRI reported that the United States and Russia, which possess around 90% of all nuclear weapons (5,459 in Moscow and 5,177 in Washington), kept the sizes of their respective active warheads relatively stable last year, but that China has accelerated the growth of its nuclear arsenal by around 100 new warheads per year. currently storing around 600. In addition, India is believed to be increasing its reserves, and the United Kingdom is expected to do so soon.
"Of the total global inventory of approximately 12,241 warheads in January 2025, around 9,614 were in military arsenals for potential use," said Hans M. Kristensen, a researcher at SIPRI. "Global tensions have led the nine nuclear states (the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, and Israel) to plan to increase their stockpiles."
From the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV issued a statement that was read during Wednesday's anniversary: "In our time of growing global tensions and conflicts, Hiroshima and Nagasaki remain living reminders of the profound horrors caused by nuclear weapons."
When the bomb fell on Hiroshima, a huge fireball spread over a radius of 3.5 kilometers, incinerating everything in its path. A whirlwind of heat generated by the shock wave also caused thousands of fires that burned several square kilometers of the city and caused many more deaths by suffocation. The bombings dealt the final blow to Imperial Japan, which surrendered on August 15, 1945, bringing World War II to an end. Over the decades, historians around the world have debated whether the dropping of the atomic bomb actually prevented a greater number of deaths, as the conflict would likely have continued with a ground invasion of Japan.