Hiroshima, 81 years later: The atomic bomb narrative the West still gets wrong

The city fell silent at 8:15am as survivors, families and residents remembered the victims of the blast and the generations affected by radiation exposure.

The anniversary also brought protests against nuclear weapons and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s military expansion plans, including increased defence spending, eased restrictions on lethal weapon exports and efforts to revise Japan’s pacifist Article 9.

Peter Kuznick, director of American University’s Nuclear Studies Institute, also challenges the dominant Western narrative that the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were necessary to end World War II and prevent a US invasion of Japan.