(TOKYO) — The atomic bombings of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and Nagasaki three days later brought a scale of destruction the world had never seen. Many who survived the blasts died in the weeks, months and years that followed. Japan surrendered six days after the Nagasaki bombing, bringing an end to World War II.
Today, the only nation to have suffered atomic bombings is protected by the U.S. nuclear umbrella. More than 50,000 U.S. military personnel are stationed in Japan. The country has fired almost no shots in anger in eight decades.
But that postwar identity is shifting.
The Japanese constitution, drafted during the U.S. occupation, renounces war as a means of settling disputes. Japan hasn’t revised that pacifist charter. But the space around it has changed. Many here now perceive real and growing threats. Topics that were politically untouchable a decade ago are now freely debated.
Conflicts no longer seem regional but interconnected. North Korea, now a front-line participant in the war in Ukraine, continues to launch missiles in defiance of sanctions. China tests boundaries and dares others to push back.
In recent years, Japan has asserted itself more openly, sending a warship through the Taiwan Strait in 2024 and dispatching a prime minister to Ukraine for face-to-face talks with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in 2023 — the first time a Japanese prime minister has visited an active combat zone since World War II.
Leading up to this year’s anniversary, the tone has shifted from remembrance to readiness. “Ukraine today may be East Asia tomorrow,” said former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during that 2023 visit.
Earlier this year, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visited Tokyo, where, according to Reuters, the two sides agreed to accelerate co-production of missile systems. Japan also pledged to expand joint operations and upgrade its Self-Defense Forces’ command structure to better align with U.S. forces.
Current Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba affirmed the shared U.S.-Japan vision for a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific.”
Japan now participates in multinational drills near flashpoints. It provides naval support to the Philippines. It seeks better ties with South Korea.
But rearmament takes money, and public support for a bigger military budget remains uncertain.
One group has stayed firmly opposed to nuclear weapons, Nihon Hidankyo, formed in 1956 representing survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In 2024, it received the Nobel Peace Prize for decades of testimony and efforts to persuade governments to disarm.
“We atomic bomb survivors call on all countries to sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons for peace,” reads a flyer distributed by the group.
In Japan, survivors are known as hibakusha. They became symbols of peace, a living reminder of what must never happen again. Now, there are fewer of them, but they are still speaking out.
Tomoko Matsuo was 12 years old when the bomb fell on Nagasaki. She was at home on summer break, less than 2 miles from the hypocenter, the area directly underneath where the bomb exploded. A hill, she says, may have blocked the worst of the blast and saved her life.
“I was working on the sewing machine when I heard a huge sound,” she told ABC News in Nagasaki on June 27. “It was enormous and unforgettable.” She ran to a nearby bomb shelter. When she emerged, her house was still standing. Nagasaki was ablaze.
They searched for her older sister Eiko, who was 16. “It was a sea of flames. We gave up the search.” Two days after the bombing, Eiko returned.
“I can’t imagine how she made it home,” Matsuo says.
Eiko was burned. She couldn’t keep food down. There was no proper medical care. “We spoke encouraging words to her. It’s painful to think of that.” They took her to a nearby aid station, gave her water, tried a blood transfusion from her brother. But she died soon after.
“This young life was lost. It’s unbearable. She wanted to see her family, and she worked enormously hard to come home.”
Now 92, Matsuo tells her story to keep Eiko’s memory alive. But the chance of nuclear weapons never being used again is far from certain.
Kazuko Hikawa, Vice Director of the Research Center for Nuclear Weapons Abolition at Nagasaki University, says the goal may be harder to reach than many realize. The problem, she says, is something called the security paradox.
“Countries chase nuclear weapons thinking it will stop others from attacking them with nuclear weapons,” she tells ABC News. “Nuclear deterrence may prevent nuclear war, but it actually increases the risk of conflict involving conventional weapons, as seen in Ukraine and Palestine. These are not nuclear wars, but they happen under the shadow of nuclear power.”
In 2015, ABC News met a Hiroshima survivor, Sunao Tsuboi, who has since passed away.
U.S. Ambassador George Glass attended the memorial ceremonies in Hiroshima and and will also attend the ceremony in Nagasaki later this week. His remarks focused on reconciliation and the strength of the U.S.-Japan alliance.
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