Hiroshima held its annual memorial ceremony on August 6, 2026, to commemorate the 81st anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing, with some 50,000 attendees representing around 120 countries gathering at the city's Peace Memorial Park for a minute of silence at 8:15 a.m., the exact moment the bomb was dropped in 1945. Mayor Kazumi Matsui used his peace declaration to criticise world leaders for legitimising nuclear deterrence, warning that accepting the use of force "risks cycles of violent retaliation that could ultimately result in another Hiroshima or Nagasaki." The ceremony carries added weight this year as Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, attending for the first time in office, faces pressure from survivors over her hawkish government's reported consideration of easing Japan's longstanding three non-nuclear principles — a postwar policy renouncing the production, possession, and introduction of nuclear weapons into the country.