Arab News Japan

TOKYO: After protesting on August 6 – the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima – nationalists in Japan once again gathered in front of the American Embassy in Tokyo on August 9, the anniversary of the day the US dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki 78 years ago. 

The protesters spent hours parading back and forth in front of the Embassy in black trucks that had loudspeakers on their roofs. They yelled noisily into the speakers, demanding an apology for the atomic bombing as police tried to contain them in designated areas.

One protestor asked why Biden didn’t apologize at the recent G7 summit in Hiroshima, while some outside the embassy said it was their duty to keep the memory of the bombings alive.

“The best way to remember this every year is to mark the anniversary,” a protester said. “In 2011 in Fukushima, there was a big earthquake but people in the world have started to forget about it. There’s no memorial day for it, but we have anniversaries for Hiroshima and Nagasaki and we will keep them. We will not forget.”

A young man told Arab News Japan: “I believe that Japan and the United States need to keep this memory alive as an opportunity to abolish nuclear weapons.”