Peace Declaration is an annual speech delivered by the Mayor of Hiroshima on August 6, the day that city was destroyed by an atom bomb delivered by a US B-29. That speech has been delivered regularly since 1947, except for 1950, when the US occupation forces prohibited Mayor

Shinzo Hamai ''Shinzo'', known as in Japan, is an anime television series produced by TV Asahi, Toei Advertising, and Toei Animation. It was directed by Tetsuo Imazawa, with Mayori Sekijima handling series scripts, Sachiko Kamimura designing the characte ...

to deliver the speech. The Peace Declaration at first touched upon issues such as nuclear disarmament, but since the 1980s also issues such as armed conflicts around the world in general. A similar annual speech is also delivered by the Mayor of

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole Nanban trade, port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hi ...

since 1948.

Memorial ceremonies marked by special guests or features

Some of the memorial ceremonies were marked by statements by additional leaders than just the mayor of Hiroshima. At the 1st ceremony in 1947, a message was read by General McArthur. The 2nd ceremony in 1948 was attended by the Australian Commander of the

British Commonwealth Occupation Force The British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF) was the British Commonwealth taskforce consisting of Australian, British, Indian and New Zealand military forces in occupied Japan, from 1946 until the end of occupation in 1952. At its peak, ...

Gen.

Horace Robertson Lieutenant General Sir Horace Clement Hugh Robertson, (29 October 1894 – 28 April 1960) was a senior officer in the Australian Army who served in the First World War, the Second World War and the Korean War. He was one of the first graduates ...

. The 1971 ceremony was the first attended by a Japanese prime minister

Eisaku Satō was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister from 1964 to 1972. He is the third-longest serving Prime Minister, and ranks second in longest uninterrupted service as Prime Minister. Satō entered the National Diet in 1949 as a membe ...

. The 1977 ceremony was the first attended by a UN official. UN General Assembly president

Hamilton Shirley Amerasinghe Hamilton Shirley Amerasinghe, CCS (18 March 1913 – 4 December 1980) was a Sri Lankan diplomat and civil servant. He was High Commissioner to India and concurrently Ambassador to both Nepal and Afghanistan (1963–1967) and Permanent Secreta ...

was among the speakers.US diplomatic cable referring to Amerasinghe's speech in Hiroshima
/ref> The 2010 ceremony was the first attended by the US Ambassador to Japan.

Notes

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References

* Robert Jungk, ''Children of the Ashes'' * Yoshiteru Kosakai, ''Hiroshima Peace Reader'' (Hiroshima, 1980)

External links

* ttp://www.hiroshimapeacemedia.jp/mediacenter/article.php?story=20100723155429435_en Peace Declarations for A-bomb anniversaries reflect the times 2010 article in the Chugoku Shimbun.
Peace declaration a reflection of the times
a revised 2011 version of the same article. Remembrance days