Hiroshima yesterday marked the 55th anniversary of the atomic inferno that obliterated the western Japanese city with silent prayers and a plea for nuclear disarmament.
About 50,000 people, including ageing survivors of the blast and the Prime Minister, Mr Yoshiro Mori, gathered at Hiroshima's Peace Park for a memorial ceremony near the spot where a US bomber dropped an atomic bomb on August 6th, 1945.
Paper cranes symbolising peace were draped at numerous spots around the park while incense burned in prayer altars and tears flowed freely as people remembered the atomic bombing.
In a solemn ceremony attended by black-clad survivors of the blast, schoolchildren in their uniforms, Hiroshima residents and others, the names of 5,021 were added to the list of the dead, bringing the total to 217,137.
The new names are those of people who died recently and have been recognised by the city as victims of the bomb. A few thousand names of atomic bomb victims are added each year at the time of the anniversary.
The bomb dropped on Hiroshima killed some 140,000 people by the end of 1945, out of an estimated population of 350,000. Thousands more succumbed to illness and injuries later.
The city of Nagasaki was bombed three days after Hiroshima, leading to the surrender of Japan and the end of the second World War. The Hiroshima mayor, Mr Tadatoshi Akiba, called for the immediate end of nuclear weapons.
He also urged that the most important event of the 20th century not be forgotten in the 21st century.
The average age of atomic blast survivors is now 70, according to government figures.
Hundreds of survivors who were not strong enough to attend the ceremony watched from nursing homes in the city, clutching prayer beads as they watched proceedings on television.
Mr Mori pledged to promote nuclear disarmament. He told reporters at the atomic bombing museum Japan was ready to submit a draft resolution to eliminate nuclear weapons at the forthcoming UN General Assembly session.
Mr Mori declared yesterday that he would not undertake a formal pilgrimage to Japan's war shrine, a target of criticism from Asian neighbours, on next week's 55th anniversary of his country's surrender.
Visits to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine by Japanese leaders have drawn protests from China, north and south Koreas and other Asian nations as it sanctifies Japan's war criminals including the former prime minister, Gen Hideki Tojo.
Tojo and six other wartime leaders were condemned to be hanged by a US-led international tribunal for alleged crimes in the Pacific war which ended with Japan's surrender on August 15th, 1945.
"After comprehensively assessing various circumstances, I have reached a conclusion on the basis of my own careful and independent examination that I had better refrain from an official visit," Mr Mori said.