Overview

• Commemorations in Hiroshima and Nagasaki Peace Memorial Parks drew envoys from a record 120 countries and territories.
• Young successor guides such as 12-year-old Shun Sasaki briefed international visitors, bridging generational gaps as survivor numbers decline.
• Hibakusha ranks fell below 100,000 this year with an average age of 86, highlighting a race against time to capture their firsthand testimonies.
• Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui warned that rising U.S.-Russia tensions, which have kept the Doomsday Clock near midnight, are undermining established peace-building frameworks.
• Nihon Hidankyo renewed its warning that 'we don't have much time left' to abolish nuclear weapons as Japan declined to ratify the U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons under its U.S. umbrella.