(August,9,'97)

On August 9, Nagasaki commemorated the 52nd anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city. The Nagasaki Peace Memorial Ceremony was solemnly observed at Peace Memorial Park, which is situated in the city's Matsuyama-Cho, near the hypocenter. Nagasaki renewed its commitment to the abolition of nuclear weapons.

In the Peace Memorial Ceremony which was conducted by the city government, approximately 25,000 people participated including Koizumi Junichiro, the Minister of Heath and Welfare, the representatives from the World Conference of Mayors for Peace through Inter-city Solidarity. Along with paying their utmost respects to the souls of the A-bomb victims over eleven hundred thousand, the people pledge themselves anew on this Peace Memorial Day to the realization of eternal peace.

In the Peace Declaration, Nagasaki Mayor, Iccho Itoh criticized the United States that conducting a subcritical nuclear test is a U.S. strategy to maintain nuclear deterrence policy and to grip the control over a nuclear armament. He called upon the Japanese government that Japan should firmly oppose to the testing as a nation that had suffered from nuclear bombing.