# Hiroshima’s 81st anniversary revives debate over Japan’s nuclear stance 2026-08-06T11:06:34+00:00 | World & Diplomacy | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet Hiroshima marked the 81st anniversary of the 1945 atomic bombing on August 6, and Mayor Kazumi Matsui said in his peace declaration that downplaying the inhumanity of nuclear weapons and accepting the use of force "risk cycles of violent retaliation that could ultimately result in another Hiroshima or Nagasaki," NDTV and The Hindu reported. About 50,000 people, including representatives of some 120 countries and regions, were due to attend, with a minute of silence held at 8.15 am, the time the bomb was dropped. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, attending her first ceremony as premier, pledged a realistic approach toward a world where nuclear weapons are never used, within the UN non-proliferation treaty framework, amid speculation that her government may ease Japan's three non-nuclear principles, the third of which bars bringing nuclear weapons into the country. A Hindustan Times opinion analysis argued that Japan is better understood as evolving into a normal deterrent power than as abandoning pacifism. The bombing killed 140,000 people, 91,105 survivors remain, their average age above 86. ## Indian Opinion Analysis Two opposite readings compete for this anniversary: that Tokyo is abandoning postwar pacifism, or that nothing has changed. The numbers Hindustan Times cites fit neither. A Jiji Press poll this year found 62.6% opposed Japan acquiring nuclear weapons against 16.7% in favour, while a 2025 Cabinet Office survey put support for strengthening the Self-Defence Forces at a record 45%, with more than 93% holding a favourable view of the SDF. That mix, resistance to nuclear weapons alongside rising comfort with a stronger conventional military, matches what Hindustan Times calls a normal deterrent power. The one concrete change on the table is the principle barring nuclear weapons from Japanese soil, which Takaichi wants reviewed. Japan compiles the new security and defence documents later this year, and the third principle either survives them or does not. ## Coverage - ndtv.com - thehindu.com - hindustantimes.com Tags: Hiroshima, Japan, Sanae Takaichi Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/hiroshima-marks-81st-anniversary-with-calls-to-end-nuclear-weapons/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/hiroshima-marks-81st-anniversary-with-calls-to-end-nuclear-weapons/#story-in-brief