The Japanese city of Nagasaki held a memorial on Thursday for the 67th anniversary of the August 9th, 1945 atomic bombing that ended World War II. At a ceremony held in front of a peace park, the city’s mayor, Tomihisa Taue, spoke to the 6,000 people in attendance, calling for a Japan that has no reliance on nuclear power. Mayor Taue pledged his support for those whose lives are still affected by the Fukushima nuclear meltdown of last year, and requested the nation’s central government listen to the people who want a new energy policy that works towards an elimination of nuclear power.
Clifton Truman Daniel, the 55 year old grandson of former U.S. President Harry Truman, who had authorized the two atomic bombings during WWII, attended the Nagasaki ceremony this year, just as he did at Hiroshima on August 6th this week. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda was also in attendance of both memorials. At Nagasaki, he reiterated his call for a worldwide elimination of nuclear weapons, as well as promising continued efforts to prevent the memories and experiences of the last remaining survivors from being lost.
While Prime Minister Noda made sure to make no mention of it at the memorial ceremony, he has recently commented that he would look into the difficulties it would take to get Japan to a zero-reliance on nuclear power. He made sure to clarify that he was not promising to make it an end goal however, seemingly extinguishing any optimism on his part. But on the other end of the spectrum, Minister of Industry Yukio Edano disagrees with Noda, believing that Japan can end its nuclear power usage by the year 2030, and that doing so would even be good for the nation’s economy.
[via Newsday]