More than 70 countries have ratified the treaty, but nuclear powers like the US and Russia have opposed it, pointing to the deterrence function of nuclear arsenals.
Japan has also rejected such a ban, arguing that its security is enhanced by US nuclear weapons.
The nuclear issue is a divisive one in Japan. On the streets leading up to the Peace Memorial Park, there were small protests calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons.
Saitoshi Tanaka, another atomic bomb survivor who suffered multiple cancers from radiation exposure, said that seeing the bloodshed in Gaza and Ukraine today conjures up his own suffering.
“Seeing the mountains of rubble, the destroyed cities, the children and women fleeing in panic, it all brings back memories of what I went through,” he told the BBC. “We are living alongside nuclear weapons that could wipe out humanity multiple times over.”
“The most urgent priority is to push the leaders of nuclear-armed countries. The people of the world must become even more outraged, raise their voices louder, and take massive action.”
AloJapan.com