HIROSHIMA VICTIMS REMEMBERED 80 YEARS ON
Wednesday marks 80 years since an atomic bomb devastated Hiroshima. People across Japan are pausing to remember the victims. People came to the Peace Memorial Park hours before the official ceremony began.That was an unspeakable scene. I will never forget what I saw, no matter how much time passes. Wars still happen today, not just one. There are wars everywhere. I just wonder if anything can be done.
I have never skipped the August 6th memorial. I always come every year. There's been suffering these past 80 years.
I don't know how much longer we can come together. It's harder for her to talk, so I need to listen more to keep her memory alive.
Hiroshima fell silent at 8:15 AM, the same moment the bomb was dropped in 1945. The heat and radiation from the blast destroyed the city, killing an estimated 140,000 people by the end of the year. Many who survived suffer from cancer and other diseases related to radiation exposure. About 55,000 people attended this year's ceremony. Hiroshima Mayor Matsui Kazumi placed an updated list of the dead in the park's cenotaph.
There are now 349246 names. In his peace declaration, Matsui spoke about Tsuboisenau,An atomic bomb survivor, he led a campaign calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons until his death four years ago.
One hibaksha leader frequently reminded younger audiences building a peaceful world without nuclear weapons will demand our never give up spirit. We have to talk and keep talking to people who hold opposing views.
Today, conveying the ardent pleas for peace, derived from Hibakusha experiences, is more crucial than ever.
Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru also spoke at the ceremony. He said Japan is committed to a world without nuclear weapons.
When I visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum,I renewed my resolve that these unbearable ordeals and memories should not be allowed to fade away and must be handed down through future generations. Here in Hiroshima, to realize a world without nuclear war and a world free of nuclear weapons and bring about everlasting peace, I pledge once again that Japan will do its utmost.
There are now less than 100,000 atomic bomb survivors left alive. Their average age is over 86 years old. As time goes on, it will become increasingly difficult to hear their stories directly.
NHK World's Yoshikawa Yuichi was at Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Park on Wednesday. Here's some of that report.
Many people remain here in this park hours after the ceremony ended.
When I came here early this morning, I saw a few people praying, and some of them almost sounded like they were trying to have conversations with their lost loved ones. And it just reminded me that, for them, the atomic bombing is not a thing of the past.
And with me now is Morota Ayaka from our Hiroshima bureau. She covers stories about atomic bomb survivors, also known as Hibakusha in Japanese.
So, Ayaka, what does this day mean to the people of Hiroshima and Hibakusha?And is there anything that adds to it now that this is the 80-year anniversary? Yuichi, August 6th has always been an important occasion for the city.
I've been covering this day for six years now, and every year, people start coming to near the hype center early in the morning. It was the same today.
And you can still see a long line of visitors in front of the cenotaph now.
Many students have even come back from their summer breaks to pay tribute to the victims. As for the hibaksha, they have been fighting for the abolition of nuclear weapons for 80 years. One 94-year-old hibaksha told us, Nothing has changed. The situation is actually getting worse. The world is still doing stupid things, and I don't know what to do. So there's a feeling of this frustration.
You know, has last year's Nobel Peace Prize--did that change that at all?It was awarded to the group of survivors, called Nihong Shidankyo, in recognition of its efforts for abolishing nuclear weapons. Yes.
Hibakusha welcomed that as a rare bit of good news. The award helped draw attention to their work.
Fourteen visitors have been coming to the the Peace Memorial Museum every day, and the hibakusha are traveling the world to deliver their testimonies. They say it's important to work harder than ever now that they have the world's attention.
At the same time, it seems that nuclear weapon states are becoming increasingly dependent on deterrence. Some have openly threatened to use their weapons.
These developments don't have the Hypakshia feeling optimistic.
Well, thank you very much, Jako, for explaining all that. We will be hearing from you a little later.
FOREIGN STUDENT VICTIMS OF A-BOMB STILL INSPIRE HOPE
Well, now, as mentioned earlier, the number of victims who have died has grown to 349,246 and they include people who are foreign students. Their history isn't as well known, but I looked into it and found that their actions in the bombing's aftermath left a lasting impact. I also met one man spreading their stories and showing why it still matters all these decades later.The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum has been welcoming a growing number of visitors, a record more than two million last fiscal year. A third come from overseas, and many of them are being drawn to this exhibit.
It's titled away From Home.
It shows non-Japanese victims of the atomic bombing, including Malaysian Abdul Razak, who was enrolled at a local university. I didn't know that there was foreign students in the Hiroshima at the time.
Yeah He must be devastated to be far away from his home and far away from his family too. Razak and seven other foreign students were exposed to the blast and radiation. Razak survived, but two died before they could return home to Southeast Asia.
Japan's now defunct imperial military occupied multiple countries in the region during World War II.
Tokyo selected bright minds from there as part of a program to nurture future leaders. Razak was among the more than 200 brought to Japan to study.
Kurihara Miko was 19 years old at the time of the bombing. She spent a week sleeping outside, along with Razak and other students, in his university's schoolyard in the aftermath.
She was searching for her missing father when she first came across Razak and the other students.
This video depicts Kurihara's experience.
including one night when one of the students played a violin that somehow survived the bombing. .
One person sharing stories about that time, Nuruhaizal Azam Arif. He teaches at a local university and was an overseas student himself from Malaysia. He says he was surprised to learn that there were foreign student victims. I couldn't imagine how they, you know, endure. the hardship that they encountered during the atomic bomb. You know They don't know where to go. They don't have their family here.
Azam is holding a seminar for Malaysians in Hiroshima to learn about what the students went through. He wants the participants to know that they were foreign victims and to pass that knowledge on to future generations.
We do not only remember the tragedy of war,We celebrate the miracles of human connections. In a world still wounded by conflicts, this friendship born from calamity are not just memories.
They are message that even in our darkest hour, humanity can choose lights. Peace have no boundaries, even though we are different in terms of meaning, our faith, our religion.
Regardless of where they came from, everyone suffered under the mushroom cloud. The indiscriminate nature of nuclear weapons, a threat still with us today.
HIROSHIMA VICTIMS REMEMBERED 80 YEARS ON
Associate Professor Azam that we just saw in the video joins me now to discuss the foreign student victims. So, Dr. Azam, what motivated you to research the students, even though it is not your main field of expertise?Ohh Yes, my main role as a lecturer is in international business, actually. But in 2020, first time joined the memorial service for Dick Yusof.He was one of the Malaysian students who died during the bombing. That moment was a turning point for me.
I was deeply removed to see how people in Hiroshima continue to honor him, his memory every year, quietly and sincerely.
It made me realize that while the story is remembered here, very few Malaysians knows that some students from their own country were here in Hiroshima and became the victims of the bombing. Uh Since then, I've been actively involved in uncovering and sharing the the stories, not just a war victim, but as a part of forgotten history ohh that that should be known by many.
This has become more than a side project for me. It's a personal mission to bridge the memory between Malaysia and Japan and to contribute to the peace education, I think, from a different perspective. Especially as we commemorate 80 years since the bombing, I believe this story deserves to be heard not only in Japan, but across Southeast Asia. Umm Well, you sort of touched on this in the video that we saw, but tell us once again, why do we or should we learn about those students after all these decades later?Yeah, this is because it still speaks to the world now. Even now, you can see wars still continue in Gaza, in Ukraine and in many places around the world. The threat of nuclear weapons being used is perhaps greater than ever since Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I think. That's why remembering what happened here and not just about the past but I think it's about preventing another tragedy to be occurred. Through the lives of these students and through the words of survivors like Kurihara Meko, we know how one atomic bomb destroyed the lives of peoples indiscriminately. Young and old, local and foreigners, students and also soldiers.
These students came to Japan to study and to build bridges, but war turned their dreams into ashes.
We must not let this happen again.
Learning the history will remind us that peace is really fragile. And what we must protect is with knowledge, empathy and courage. Well, thank you very much for all of your insight, Dr. Azam.
Well, the fact that the bombing had foreign victims speaks to the bigger issue here. Nuclear weapons are a threat to the entire world, and that's why Hibakusha want them gone for good anywhere and everywhere. So Ayaka is here again. So Ayaka, some of the rhetoric on the world stage does seem to suggest the threat of nuclear weapons. is still there, and then what do you think needs to be done for people to truly comprehend that it it is totally wrong to use them?I think more people need to hear the experiences of the hibaksha. Once you understand what they went through, you'll realize just how horrifying these weapons are.
Many people think this is a problem of the past. They think there's no way we would ever use thisnuclear weapons again. Another issue that needs to be considered is the value of nuclear deterrence in the nuclear umbrella. Some experts question whether such a defense strategy is actually protecting the world at all.
They say nuclear weapons only saw distrust and deepened division between countries. I think it's important to remind people that as long as nuclear weapons exist,there will always be the possibility of a treasury.
Thank you, Ayaka, for sharing all of your insight. Thanks so much.
Now, despite the challenge of getting people across the world to care about this issue, it's worth pointing out here a change that I have noticed. I myself lived and reported here in the city, Hiroshima, for four years earlier in my career, and similar to what the museum is recording,I see a lot of foreign visitors here these days and even today. New faces mean new opportunities to share an important message.
CEREMONY HELD AT AIRFIELD USED BY PLANES THAT DROPPED A-BOMBS
A commemorative ceremony has also been held on the Pacific island from which the aircraft that dropped the atomic bombs took off.About 100 people took part in Wednesday's event at Tinian in the Northern Mariana Islands. It was held at a military airfield used during the war.
USB 29 bombers flew out from there to attack Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Participants prayed for peace as the flags of Japan and the United States were raised. They then laid flowers at the atomic bomb loading pits and remembered the victims of the war. Consul Tejima Akiko from the Consulate Office of Japan in Saipan was among the guests.
Tinian Mayor Edwin Aldan told NHK prior to the ceremony that such a tragedy must never happen again.
The plane took off from here, from that, on Northfield. Drop and lives were changed.
I want to, I want to, I want to make sure that we never forget about that.
EXTREME HEAT WAVE CONTINUES ACROSS JAPAN
Severe heat continues to bake Japan on Wednesday, the day after the country recorded a new all-time high. Weather officials are urging the public to take measures against heat stroke.The Japan Meteorological Agency says it was 41.8 degrees Celsius on Tuesday in Isisaki City, north of Tokyo, a record high. It was also 40 degrees or higher at 14 observation points in the Kanto region, including Tokyo.
The heat continued into Wednesday.
Officials say temperatures reached 41 degrees in Shizuoka City and 38 degrees in other parts of the country, including Tokyo and Kyoto.
Officials are advising people to keep cool by using air conditioners, consuming adequate fluids and salt, and taking frequent breaks during outdoor activities.
S. KOREA'S FORMER FIRST LADY QUESTIONED OVER CORRUPTION CHARGES
The wife of ousted South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has appeared for questioning by a special prosecutor. She faces charges that include bribery and influence peddling.Kim Gunnee arrived at the special prosecutor's office in Seoul on Wednesday morning. She's embroiled in several corruption scandals that undermined her husband before he was removed from office earlier this year.
I am truly sorry that a nobody like me has caused concern to the people.
I will fully cooperate with the investigation.
The allegations include a claim she received a luxury handbag and necklace from a high-ranking official of the religious group widely known as the Unification Church. South Korean media outlets report that Kim may face additional rounds of questioning.
PROBE BEGINS INTO FIRE ON BARGES AT YOKOHAMA FIREWORKS SHOW
Authorities have begun investigating a fire that broke out at a fireworks festival. The blaze took place on 2 launch barges in the sea of the city of Yokohama. The barges were among eight used for the display on Monday. The flames caused fireworks on the two boats to explode one after another. The blaze was extinguished about 15 hours later.Firefighters, police and Coast Guard officials started their probe on Wednesday. They examined the barges at a pier where they'd been brought from the accident site. Officials of the company in charge of the display were also present. Yokohama city officials said staff tried to stop the launch system right after the fire started, but the display continued, causing the fire to spread.
BUSINESS
Now let's see what's happening in the world of business. Here's Ramin Mellegard from the biz desk.Thank you very much indeed.
SEVEN & I SHIFTS STRATEGY TO ADD 1,000 JAPAN CONVENIENCE STORES.
Japanese retail giant Seven and I Holdings says it will refocus strategy on its mainstay convenience store business to boost earnings. Now, the move comes after Canadian rival Alimentation Couche Dart withdrew a $47 billion takeover offer last month.We are at a turning point in our company's history, so this transformation is extremely important for us now.
The parent of the 711 operator says it will open 1000 outlets in Japan by fiscal 2030, adding to the more than 21,000 current stores. It will also upgrade outlets to offer onsite baked foods such as bread. As part of the strategy, Seven and I plans to unload other businesses, including restaurants and supermarkets. It will invest 3.2 trillion yen, or about $22 billion. by fiscal 2030, aiming to increase annual revenue to 11.3 trillion yen from the current 10 trillion.
JAPAN'S REAL WAGES DROPPED FOR 6TH MONTH IN JUNE
Japan's inflation adjusted wages fell for a sixth straight month in June as surging prices continued to outpace salary increases. Preliminary data from the Labour Ministry showed that real pay fell 1.3% compared with the same month last year. The ministry surveyed about 30,000 businesses nationwide, with at least five employees.Workers took home a little over 510,000 yen, or about $3,500 on average in June.
That includes base pay, overtime and bonus payments. That amount is up 2.5% year on year and has risen for 42 consecutive months. Base wages increased 2.1%, while other pay, including bonuses, rose 3%. Ministry officials.
Say base pay is steadily increasing, but real wages continue to slide.
TRUMP COMPARES JAPAN'S US INVESTMENT DEAL TO 'SIGNING BONUS'
President Donald Trump says Japan's $550 billion investment in the US that was agreed in tariff talks is like a signing bonus that a baseball player would get. Trump made the comments in a phone interview with CNBC on Tuesday. He said that's our money.It's our money to invest. Trump signed an executive order last week to implement a 15% baseline import tariff on Japanese goods from Thursday.
That's the rate Tokyo and Washington agreed to in the talks last month.
TOKYO SEEKS TARIFF CLARITY ON AUTO IMPORTS
However, the executive order didn't mention a separate 15% import levy on Japanese automobiles. Japan's trade negotiator is visiting Washington to get this clarified.We are simply asking for a presidential order to confirm the tariff rate on Japanese automobiles at 15%. This is not a complicated negotiation or a tactic. We just wish to make sure that both sides are implementing an agreement that is beneficial to both Japan and the United States. Now, in July, US Treasury Secretary Scott Besant said the agreement with Japan will be reviewed every quarter. He added that if the president is not satisfied with the progress of the deal, he may reinstate a tariff of 25% on cars and other goods.
OK, let's get a check on the markets.
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And that's it for business news.
WEATHER
It's time now for a check on the weather with our meteorologist Sayaka Mori.Hello there, the unprecedented heat will continue to grip Japan. In fact, on Tuesday, the high rose to 41.8 degrees, that was the national record. And today, on Wednesday, the high was 41.4 degrees in Shizuoka, that's the second highest national record. The heat will be continuing across central Japan, including Tokyo, 35 is the expected high on Thursday, but other areas will see cooler temperatures. Osaka have been seeing highs above 35 degrees for 16 days in a row, still cooling down a little bit, but it's going to be 33 degrees on Thursday and then 32 in Fukuoka and Niigata at 32 degrees.
Now the heat stress index still at danger levels, so be careful of heat stroke.
Rain is falling heavily across the Sea of Japan side. We've got about 180 millimeters of rain in just 24 hours.
That's the August record in Niigata in this spot. We have some video coming out of the area to show how heavy the rain was. People in Hokuriku have been contending with drenching downpours.
Evacuation orders have been issued. Ferry and train services have been halted. The risks for landslides and flooding are very high out there. Rain is expected to expand across many places, including Kyushu. Let's be going through Thursday, and the heaviest rain will likely fall in the mid part of Japan, including Hokuriku and Tohoku. Nearly 200 millimeters of rain is likely, but that will cool temperatures a bit. Across North America, heavy rain is pounding the southeastern portions of the United States, and then across the opposite side of the United States, it's dry and we could be seeingSome dry thunderstorms that could ignite more wildfires in the Four Corners region. And temperatures are going to be 47 in Phoenix on Wednesday. And it's going to be hot in Houston, muggy out there.
That's it for me. Have a nice day.
♫～ 3-DAY FORECAST ～♫
Thanks for watching.
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