On the 80th anniversaries of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, survivors continue searching for remains and healing—and Americans remain divided over whether the bombings were justified.

Mayor Kazumi Matsui called on leaders to heed the lessons of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and warned of the consequences of the global trend towards a military buildup.

On August 6, 1945, the US dropped the first nuclear bomb on the unsuspecting Japanese city of Hiroshima. This cataclysmic event, as well as the bombing of Nagasaki a few days later, not only compounded Japan’s decision to surrender in the Second World War,