Japan marks the 71st anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of
Hiroshima as its mayor urged world leaders to follow in U.S. President
Barack Obama's footsteps and visit, and ultimately rid the world of
nuclear arms.
A peace bell tolled at 8:15 a.m. (2315 GMT on Friday), the
time a U.S. warplane dropped the bomb. About 50,000 participants
including aging survivors and dignitaries held a moment of silence at a
memorial ceremony in the western Japanese city.
U.S. President
Barack Obama this year
became the first incumbent U.S. president to visit Hiroshima, and he
urged nuclear powers, including his own, to have the courage to escape
the logic of fear and pursue a world without nuclear weapons. "The
president's words showed he was touched by the spirit of Hiroshima,
which refuses to accept the 'absolute evil'," the mayor, Kazumi Matsui,
told the crowd, referring to the weapons.
The
United States dropped the bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, killing
thousands of people instantly and about 140,000 by the end of that year
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