Online memorial launched for children dead in Hiroshima, Nagasaki
A Nobel Prize-winning anti-nuclear group launched an online memorial Tuesday for the 38,000 children who died in the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ahead of the 80th anniversary next month.
It features more than 400 profiles with details of the children's lives, "their agonising deaths and the grief of surviving family members," said the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) in a statement.
"By sharing their heart-wrenching stories, we hope to honor their memories and spur action for the total abolition of nuclear weapons -- an increasingly urgent task given rising global tensions," it said.
The United States dropped an atomic bomb on each Japanese city on August 6 and 9, 1945 -- the only times nuclear weapons have been used in warfare. Japan surrendered days later.
Around 140,000 people died in Hiroshima and around 74,000 others in Nagasaki including many who survived the explosions but died later from radiation exposure.
Out of around 210,000 victims, around 38,000 were children, said the ICAN, citing Hiroshima and Nagasaki officials.
Washington has never apologized for the bombings.
Clicking a crane icon, visitors to the online platform can read the children's profiles, with photos of 132 children out of 426, ranging in age from infants to teenagers.
Among them is Tadako Tameno, who died in agony aged 13 in the arms of her mother two days after the Hiroshima atomic bombing.
Six children in the Mizumachi family were killed in the Nagasaki atomic bombing. Only one girl, Sachiko, 14, survived.
The initiative comes after U.S. President Donald Trump last week likened Washington's strike on Iran's nuclear facilities to the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs.
"Actually, if you look at Hiroshima, if you look at Nagasaki, you know that ended a war too," Trump said in The Hague.
This prompted anger from survivors and a small demonstration in Hiroshima. The city's assembly passed a motion condemning remarks that justify the use of atomic bombs.
Israel's ambassador to Japan, Gilad Cohen, will attend this year's ceremony in Nagasaki, local media reported.
Cohen, together with the envoys of several Western nations including the United States, boycotted last year's event after comments by the city's mayor about Gaza.
Russia's ambassador will attend the Nagasaki ceremony, the first time its representative has been invited since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, NHK reported.
However, Nikolay Nozdrev will not attend the 80th anniversary event three days earlier on August 6, the broadcaster said, citing the Russian embassy.
ICAN won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017. Last year, it was awarded to Nihon Hidankyo, a grassroots movement of Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors.
© 2025 AFP
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NHK
13 minutes ago
- NHK
NHK finds aid not reaching all residents in Gaza
One week has passed since the Israeli military started a limited pause in its activity in the Gaza Strip from July 27, to allow more aid from the United Nations and other organizations to reach the area. Humanitarian aid deliveries by truck and airdrop have continued during this period, but NHK has found that sufficient supplies are not reaching all residents in the enclave. More than 200 truckloads of supplies have reportedly been delivered each day. NHK's Gaza-based crew saw more street stalls and shoppers in central Gaza's Nuseirat on July 30 compared with about three weeks ago on July 11. Some vendors were selling beans from the same bags in which they had been delivered as aid supplies. One vendor said much of the beans and rice he was selling came from aid delivered by the United Nations and others. He said that he had bought items from someone else and was reselling them with markups. The vendor said he is supporting his family this way. He said he does not feel good about reselling, and he wants food prices to return to normal. One liter of cooking oil that used to cost about 2.7 dollars before the conflict began now costs about 18 dollars. Soaring prices of food have made it unaffordable for many residents. Israeli media say aid supplies are sometimes stolen or resold. A woman who came to buy food said fruit was too expensive, and she could only buy flour needed to survive. She said serious starvation was happening in Gaza, and that she felt as if she was waiting for her turn to starve to death. Countries including the United Arab Emirates and Jordan have been flying transport planes to airdrop aid supplies tied to parachutes on a daily basis. People on the ground fight over the dropped supplies, and many are unable to get any. A man said that providing aid this way was humiliating, and he wants entry checkpoints to Gaza to reopen so that people can receive supplies in a dignified way.
an hour ago
80 Years On: Thai Man Wants to Return Soldiers' Remains to Japan
Long, Thailand, Aug. 3 (Jiji Press)--A Thai man who built a memorial to Japanese soldiers killed by members of a Thai resistance group during World War II hopes that their remains will be returned to their home country. The memorial in the Long district in Phrae Province, northern Thailand, was built by Puchong, 83, a local man whose father was a member of the Free Thai resistance group, which fought against Imperial Japan. During World War II, Japan allied with Thailand, using the Southeast Asian country as a base for operations in India and Burma, now Myanmar. Thais dissatisfied with the alliance formed the anti-Japanese group, which expanded its presence in the country with support from the Allied forces. According to Puchong, whose father was a senior member of the group in the province, the two Japanese soldiers died in a gunfight with Free Thai fighters in the Wiang Ta subdistrict in Long about two years before the end of the war. [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
Nikkei Asia
4 hours ago
- Nikkei Asia
China and Russia collaborate in global spread of surveillance states
Comment Political meddling in Georgia shows threat of growing authoritarian coordination Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Chinese President Xi Jinping are working to expand their countries' influence in Georgia, a crucial South Caucasus link between Asia and Europe. (Nikkei montage/Source photos by Reuters) HIROYUKI AKITA TBILISI, Georgia -- It was a rare instance of a senior Chinese official speaking with unusual candor: On July 2, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told European Union top diplomat Kaja Kallas that he does not want to see Russia lose the war in Ukraine.
