The mayor of Nagasaki on Thursday announced that the city will invite representatives “of all countries” and regions to the peace memorial marking the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city.
The invitation to the 157 countries and regions that have diplomatic missions in Japan will include Russia, Belarus and Israel, who were excluded last year.
Mayor Shiro Suzuki said he wants all representatives to see the brutal consequences of atomic weapons use as a lesson at a time of growing divisions and conflicts.
The United States dropped its second atomic bomb on Nagasaki on Aug 9, 1945, three days after the first bombing of Hiroshima, together killing more than 210,000 people. Japan surrendered on Aug 15, ending World War II and its nearly half-century of aggression across Asia.
Suzuki said his city is returning to its “fundamental purpose” of the ceremony — to mourn the atomic bomb victims and pray for lasting world peace. "We want to go beyond national borders, overcome ideological differences and any other divisions to have global representatives gather in Nagasaki.”
He added: “At a time of worsening divisions of the international society, I feel more strongly than ever about the importance for representatives of all countries to participate in the Nagasaki peace memorial and learn the atrocious and inhumane outcomes of the nuclear weapons use through their own eyes, ears and hearts.”
Suzuki did not invite Israel to the 2024 anniversary, citing concern of “unforeseeable situations” such as violent protests over the war in Gaza disrupting the memorial. But Israel's exclusion drew criticisms and boycott by ambassadors from the U.S. and five other Group of Seven nations — Canada, France, Germany, Italy and the UK — and the European Union.
Russia and its ally Belarus have not been invited to the Nagasaki memorial event since 2022 following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Japan, despite being the world’s only country to have suffered nuclear attacks, relies on the U.S. nuclear umbrella and its “extended deterrence” amid growing tension in the region and supports atomic weapons possession for deterrence.
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16 Comments
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JJE
Good move Nagasaki.
Excluding Russia/Belarus was always discriminatory.
sakurasuki
Inviting countries that currently doing atrocities just won't change them, they'll continue what they're doing after that event.
Sanjinosebleed
Not the war criminals from Israel..surely!?
TaiwanIsNotChina
They shouldn't be inviting warmongers like Putin and co.
TaiwanIsNotChina
I'm sure russia also will use this event to pretend like it has normalized relations with Japan.
GuruMick
Israels Knessett member , Heritage Minister, Amichay Eliyahu was quoted in the Times of Israel saying he wanted to drop nuclear bombs on Gaza.
Invite him....maybe he will pick up some ideas.
Ricky Kaminski13
An about face from last year. Finally some sense. Banning anyone for a solemn reminder of the horrors of war ceremony in the hope of peace was absolute madness. Swayed and pulled off course by sinister , dangerous self-serving divisive forces.
And well done mayor Suzuki, it takes some real grit and character to change direction like that. To err is human, to admit it and correct it gives you integrity and respect. Never let yourself be manipulated again.
WoodyLee
Any nation that posses the Nukes should be Excluded.
Ricky Kaminski13
Woody, quite the contrary actually. What a ludicrous idea.
u_s__reamer
The war criminals of today, indicted or unindicted, with the blood of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians on their hands should be barred or disinvited. The silence of the Japanese over the ongoing slaughter of civilians by their so-called friends and allies has already tarnished the meaning of this annual memorialization for the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and inviting the perps and usual suspects of today will turn these events into a celebration of "The Silence of the Hypocrites". Enough is enough!
Jalapeno
I wonder how often Japan has sent representatives to other countries to attend events marking some occasion to reflect on atrocities that they committed.
GuruMick
Some posters have no "red lines " on who should be invited.
Diminishes the ceremony if war criminals are invited.
Cephus
Good, cancel culture solves nothing except creating new problems and animosity.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Indicted war criminal Putin doesn't belong in polite society.
1glenn
Meanwhile, Putin is threatening to use nuclear weapons against his neighbors if the boundaries of the Soviet Union are not restored.
smithinjapan
Japan knows Trump is in love with both Putin and Kim, and to not invite Kim would be snub that Japan might not be able to play off the US later. It's the usual trying to play both sides. They want to invite all nations to celebrate peace, not recognizing that embracing those who commit war does nothing of the sort. So, now, Japan is in some respects actually celebrating war by inviting and embracing people like Putin. It's hard to still play victim when you not only refuse to ratify a ban on the weapons you wish to commemorate being used on you, but you also welcome those at war and who threaten to use them without any qualms if they don't get their way.