In Photos: Hiroshima Marks 74 Years Since Atomic Bombing
Japan has marked 74 years since a US atomic bomb attack that razed the city of Hiroshima to the ground at the end of World War II.
Around 50,000 people, including representatives from around the world, attended on Tuesday a ceremony held in the Peace Memorial Park near ground zero to honor the memory of the victims of the world’s first nuclear bomb attack.
Sunrise at the Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park
Photograph: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images
Visitors arrive for a ceremony marking the anniversary
Photograph: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images
Attendees watch a speech by Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, who reiterated a pledge to serve as a bridge between countries with and without nuclear weapons to rid the world of them. “With help from both sides, I will patiently encourage them to engage in dialogue and I am resolved to lead international efforts towards this end,” he said
Photograph: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images
Residents offer silent prayers, light candles and place wreathes to remember those killed in the 6 August 1945 bombing
Photograph: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images
Visitors pray
Photograph: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images
A visitor holds photographs as he prays in the park
Photograph: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images
The Japanese national flag flies at half-mast
Photograph: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images
A man lights incense
Photograph: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images
Japan is the only country to have experienced atomic attack – in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, days before the country’s surrender on 15 August 1945 to end the second world war
Photograph: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images
Doves are released over Peace Memorial Park during the ceremony
Photograph: Jiji Press/EPA
A boy prays in front of the cenotaph in the park
Photograph: 尾崎純子/AP
Children at the cenotaph. The mayor of Hiroshima urged world leaders to come to the city to see the memorial for themselves, amid expectations that Pope Francis will visit this year
Photograph: Kyodo/Reuters