Japan observed the anniversary of the US atomic bombing of the south-western city of Nagasaki on Saturday, where about 74,000 people were killed 69 years ago, according to dpa. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe led survivors, residents and foreign dignitaries in the annual ceremony in memory of the victims. Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue urged Abe's government to heed growing public concern over a recent major overhaul of the country's security policies. In July, the central government decided to expand the military's role overseas by reinterpreting the pacifist constitution. "The oath prescribed in the Japanese constitution that Japan shall 'renounce war' is the founding principle for postwar Japan and Nagasaki, a country and a city which suffered the atomic bomb," Taue said. The rushed debate over new security policies "has given rise to the concern that this principle is wavering," the mayor said. US Ambassador Caroline Kennedy, who was also in attendance in Hiroshima three days ago, also attended the ceremony. She thanked "the citizens of Nagasaki for inviting me to participate in today's ceremony and for their commitment to building a more peaceful world." Three days after the US attack on Hiroshima, the second blast put more pressure on Japan to surrender, which it did on August 15, 1945, six days later.
