Hiroshima grief still too much for many to bear

A girl releases a floating lantern onto the Motoyasu river to pray for relatives victims of the A-Bomb in front of the A-bomb Dome in Hiroshima, western Japan yesterday. With prayers, wreaths and emotional calls for the abolition of nuclear weapons, the Japanese city of Hiroshima marked the 60th anniversary of the world's first atomic attack. PHOTO: AFP

Leaders and activists descend on the Japanese city of Hiroshima each August 6 to call for an abolition of nuclear weapons, but many survivors believe their city's symbolism is overshadowing their personal grief.

"Deep down, local people want to be left alone," said Saeki, who now works as a taxi-driver.

"There are a slew events on August 6 and some of them are really like a festival. You know, it's not an amusing anniversary," he said.

"I have never been to the atomic bomb museum and I never will go as I don't want to recall it," Saeki said, echoing a phrase often heard from atomic bomb survivors.

Some 55,000 people including Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi showed up near the museum at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park to mourn the dead and pray for peace at 8:15 am, the exact moment 60 years ago when the bomb struck.

But dozens of people came instead at the crack of dawn, crying and praying in a more private way.

"I came to pray for peace. Recalling the war makes me tremble even now," said Shoko Okamoto, 78, who came with her granddaughter to the Hiroshima cenotaph memorial at 5:00 am.

"It is strange that I'm still alive today when others a few meters away from me died under their collapsed houses from the bombing," she said.

At 7:00 am, the road to the cenotaph was closed down for security reasons ahead of the main event.

"I usually visit here once a month either early in the morning or in the evening, when the site is not so crowded," said Natsuko Kawada, 80.