Here today, at the opening of the Nagasaki Peace Memorial Ceremony on the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing, I reverently express my sincere condolences to the souls of the great number of atomic bomb victims.
I also extend my deepest sympathy to those still suffering from the aftereffects of the atomic bomb even now.
Seventy years have passed since the atomic bomb dropped that day reduced Nagasaki to ashes, devoid even of any vegetation. At that time some 70,000 people lost their precious lives. In this catastrophe, even those who survived were forced to live lives of hardships beyond description.