STORY: Japan marked the 80th anniversary of the Nagasaki atomic bombing on Saturday (August 9), as the country's Prime Minister, Shigeru Ishiba, reaffirmed its commitment to a world without nuclear weapons.

"As the only nation to have suffered atomic bombings in war, it is Japan's duty to uphold the Three Non-Nuclear Principles and to take the lead in international efforts to realise a world without nuclear war or nuclear weapons.

Our efforts will continue, one step at a time," Ishiba told guests during the memorial ceremony at Nagasaki's Peace Memorial Park.

After a moment of silence at 11:02 a.m., marking the time of the blast, Mayor Shiro Suzuki warned that current global conflicts could push the world again into nuclear war.

Large parts of Nagasaki were levelled on August 9, 1945, when the United States dropped a 10,000-pound plutonium-239 bomb, nicknamed "Fat Man," on the city instantly killing approximately 27,000 of an estimated population of 200,000 people.

Representatives from 95 countries and territories including nuclear superpower the United States, and Israel, which neither confirms nor denies having nuclear weaponry, attended the annual ceremony for the milestone year.

Russia, which possesses the world's largest nuclear stockpile, was also in attendance.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

SHOWS: NAGASAKI, JAPAN (AUGUST 9, 2025) (JAPAN POOL - No use Japan)

1. BELL RINGING TO MARK START OF MEMORIAL CEREMONY

2. VARIOUS OF PRESENTATION OF BOOKS OF ATOMIC BOMBING VICTIMS' NAMES

3. VARIOUS OF CEREMONY GUESTS CARRYING CEREMONIAL OFFERING OF WATER

4. WATER OFFERINGS BEING PLACED ON ALTAR / WATER OFFERING

5. CEREMONY ATTENDEES STANDING UP

6. BELL RINGING TO MARK MOMENT OF SILENCE

7. VARIOUS OF GUESTS BOWING HEADS IN SILENCE (AUDIO OF BELL RINGING)

8. FLOWER WREATHS ON ALTAR

9. GUESTS CARRYING WREATHS

10. JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER SHIGERU ISHIBA PLACING WREATH ON ALTAR

11. GUESTS PLACING WREATHS ON ALTAR

12. VARIOUS OF ISHIBA WALKING TOWARDS ALTAR / BOWING

13. ISHIBA WALKING TO LECTERN

14. (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER, SHIGERU ISHIBA, SAYING:

"As Prime Minister, I offer my sincere condolences to those who were lost and to those who continue to suffer the after-effects (of the atomic bombing)."

15. NAGASAKI PEACE STATUE

16. (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER, SHIGERU ISHIBA, SAYING:

"As the only nation to have suffered atomic bombings in war, it is Japan's duty to uphold the Three Non-Nuclear Principles and to take the lead in international efforts to realise a world without nuclear war or nuclear weapons. Our efforts will continue, one step at a time."

17. WHITE FLASH

18. (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER, SHIGERU ISHIBA, SAYING:

"Looking ahead to next year's NPT (Nuclear Proliferation Treaty) Review Conference, Japan will, on the basis of the Hiroshima Action Plan, call on both nuclear and non-nuclear states to demonstrate the spirit of dialogue and cooperation, and to work together in unison, as well as promote realistic and practical initiatives."

19. CEREMONY GUESTS APPLAUDING

20. ISHIBA BOWING TO ALTAR / WALKING AWAY FROM LECTERN

21. NAGASAKI PEACE STATUE

22. MAYOR OF NAGASAKI, SHIRO SUZUKI, BOWING TO ALTAR

23. SUZUKI WALKING TO LECTERN

24. (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) MAYOR OF NAGASAKI, SHIRO SUZUKI, SAYING:

"On August 9, 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped on this city. Who could have imagined what the world would become in the eighty years since that day? Please, stop meeting force with force at once."

25. WHITE FLASH

26. (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) MAYOR OF NAGASAKI, SHIRO SUZUKI, SAYING:

"If things continue as they are, we are heading for nuclear war. This is a crisis of human survival that is closing in on each and every one of us."

27. VARIOUS OF DOVES FLYING PAST NAGASAKI PEACE STATUE