TOKYO, August 6. /TASS/. Residents of Japan observed a minute of silence in memory of the victims of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima carried out by the United States 79 years ago.
The main memorial ceremony on the anniversary of the tragedy was held in the Peace Memorial Park in the center of Hiroshima. The minute of silence was announced throughout the country at 08:15 local time (11:15 p.m. Moscow time) - the moment the bomb exploded on August 6, 1945.
Speaking at the ceremony to mark the 79th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui did not mention the fact that the 1945 bombings were carried out by the US.
In their public speeches Japanese officials usually do not stress that it was the United States that bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In previous years, Japanese prime ministers and mayors of the two cities did not directly name the United States in their speeches at memorial ceremonies to mark the anniversaries.
However, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum presents all the details of the 1945 atomic bombings. Their history is also comprehensively reflected in textbooks for schools and universities in Japan.
Atomic bombings
The US Armed Forces carried out the first-ever atomic bombing in history, striking the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki toward the tail end of World War II. The bombings were justified as a way to accelerate the capitulation of the Empire of Japan. These attacks are the sole instance of nuclear weapons ever being used in a military conflict in the history of humanity.
According to various estimates, the explosion of the atomic bomb dropped over Hiroshima, in one day killed between 70,000 and 100,000 people. By the end of 1945, the number of victims had increased to 140,000 due to those who died in hospitals from wounds and radiation.
Every year this sad list is replenished when a survivor dies. Almost 5,000 new names have been added to this list over the past year. Besides that, the names of those people who died during the blast but whose death has not been confirmed until now are added to the list. Currently, the total number of victims is about 350,000.