The city of Hiroshima marked the 69th anniversary of its atomic bombing Wednesday under completely different circumstances than in previous years. This year's anniversary was the first since the Abe administration in July changed the government's long-standing interpretation of Article 9 of the Constitution, paving the way for Japan's possible participation in military conflicts overseas under the banner of collective self-defense.
The Hiroshima anniversary and that of the Nagasaki atomic bombing on Saturday serve as a reminder of the simple truth that efforts to abolish nuclear weapons cannot be separated from efforts to avoid war and pursue peace.
The Hiroshima Peace Declaration 2014, which Mayor Kazumi Matsui read Wednesday morning at an anniversary ceremony held in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, refrained from directly referring to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's decision to allow Japan to exercise the right to collective self-defense — that is, to provide military assistance to a country with which Japan has close ties that is under attack even if Japan is not. The mayor faced criticism from survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings and civic organizations for the omission. Still, his peace declaration expressed concern that Abe's move will run counter to efforts to build peace and eliminate nuclear weapons.