Approximately 45,000 people including atomic bomb victims and bereaved family members attended the ceremony marking the 63rd anniversary of the atomic bombing. Mr. Tadatoshi Akiba, Mayor of Hiroshima City, and the representatives of the bereaved family members added the names of people recognized as atomic bomb victims in the past year to the cenotaph and, furthermore, the participants led by the representatives of the bereaved family members, the children, the atomic bomb victims, and Prime Minister Fukuda offered flowers. Afterwards, the Peace Bell was rung by a representative of the bereaved family members and a child representative at 8:15 a.m., when the atomic bomb was dropped, and the participants offered a minute of silent prayer.

Following Mayor Akiba's Peace Declaration and the recital of the Promise for Peace by local elementary school students Mr. Sota Hondo and Ms. Honoka Imai, Prime Minister Fukuda delivered an address.

In his address, in addition to expressing his sympathy, the Prime Minister said, "A peaceful and stable international community is a precious asset for Japan's safety and prosperity. To protect and nurture such an asset, Japan as a Peace Fostering Nation must play a responsible role in the international community. At the recent G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit, the Leaders Declaration welcomed, for the first time ever, the ongoing reductions of nuclear weapons and called on all nuclear-weapon States to undertake such reductions in a transparent manner. Here today, on the soil of Hiroshima, I pledge once again that Japan will firmly maintain the Three Non-Nuclear Principles and lead the international community toward the total elimination of nuclear weapons and the realization of a permanent peace."

After the ceremony, Prime Minister Fukuda, together with Mr. Yoichi Masuzoe, Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare, visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, and held a press conference at a hotel in Hiroshima City. On the system of recognizing atomic bomb diseases, the Prime Minister said, "The Government is considering ways to address the gap between the recognition of atomic bomb diseases and the court decision, as has been pointed out. I hope to increase the number of judiciary members at the board of review for the recognition of atomic bomb diseases, and to ensure that the recognition work will gain understanding from a wider circle of the people.

Afterwards, Prime Minister Fukuda attended the Meeting to Listen to Requests by Representatives of Atomic Bomb Victims, in which representatives from seven groups of atomic bomb victims participated. On the system of recognizing atomic bomb diseases, the Prime Minister said, "The Government must accept criticism for a delayed response. I expect the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, under the leadership of the Minister, to consider specific approaches to be taken based on the requests made today."

Prime Minister Fukuda then visited a nursing home for atomic bomb survivors in Hiroshima, Kurakake Nozomi-en, and gave his greeting, saying, "Our society ought to age in such a way that we can truly enjoy a long lifespan. To that end, we are set to develop a new system, which would mean nothing less than a review of the entire social security system. I would like to remind everyone that the world will change. This is the kind of society that we are working to achieve."

• Address by Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony