Hiroshima Day is annually observed across the globe on the 6th of August in accordance with the remembrance of the victims of the world’s 1st nuclear attack on Hiroshima, Japan in 1945, during World War II (WW2) (1939-1945).
- 6th August 2023 marks the 78th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombings.
- The Hiroshima Peace Festival Association organized a Peace Festival on August 6, 1947 for promoting a lasting peace.
Background:
i.On 6th August 1945, the United States (US) Boeing-29(B-29) bomber aircraft dropped the powerful “Little Boy”, the first atomic bomb, over Hiroshima in Japan, killing over 140,000 people.
- The bombing of Hiroshima resulted in the loss of 39% of the city’s civilian population.
ii.The Little Boy is a gun-type (uranium-235), which weighed 9,700 pounds, with a Diameter of 28 inches and 10ft length, and had a force of 15,000 tons of TNT (Trinitrotoluene).
iii.US Army Air Force Colonel Paul Tibbets was the pilot of the plane B-29 Enola Gay from which the Little Boy was dropped.
iv.3 days later, on 9th August 1945, a second B-29 dropped another atomic bomb (plutonium-239) ‘The Fat Man,’ on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 40,000 people.
v.On 15th August 1945, Japan surrendered and signed the declaration of surrender on 2nd September in Tokyo Bay, Japan.
vi.The cause for the attack was the allied forces in WW2 which includes Britain, the US, the Soviet Union and China.
vii.The effects of radiation killed and affected many people in the following years.
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park:
Every year on August 6th, the Hiroshima Day Memorial Service is held at the Peace Memorial Park, The Genbaku Dome (the only structure left behind after the bomb blast) to commemorate the victims of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
- The Genbaku Dome was declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1996.
About Japan:
Prime Minister (PM)- Kishida Fumio
Capital- Tokyo
Currency- Japanese Yen
