Hiroshima observed the 74th anniversary of the world's first atomic bombing, which took place on August 6, 1945. In the annual declaration, Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui said that nuclear disarmament in the world is at a standstill.

He called on the central government to heed the wish of hibakusha (those who survived the attack 75 years ago) for Japan to sign the U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

Japan is the only country that has experienced an atomic bombing, but it has refused to participate in the 2017 treaty. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that Japan’s mission is to realize a world free of nuclear weapons, but avoided any reference to the treaty.