HIROSHIMA (Kyodo) Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba urged people around the world to join the city's effort to abolish atomic weapons in response to U.S. President Barack Obama's appeal for a world free of nuclear arms, as Hiroshima marked the 64th anniversary of the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing Thursday.
"We support President Obama and have a moral responsibility to act to abolish nuclear weapons," Akiba said in the Peace Declaration at a commemorative ceremony at the city's Peace Memorial Park, reiterating Hiroshima's conviction that "the only role for nuclear weapons is to be abolished."
"To emphasize this point," said Akiba, "we refer to ourselves, the great global majority, as the 'Obamajority,' and we call on the rest of the world to join forces with us to eliminate all nuclear weapons by 2020. The essence of this idea is embodied in the Japanese Constitution, which is ever more highly esteemed around the world.