Former junior high school principal Hajimu Imanaka looked back at the 55 years since the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima and urged the government to ensure that the experience is passed on to future generations.
After laying a wreath of flowers before the cenotaph in Peace Memorial Park in tribute to those killed by the bomb during Sunday's memorial ceremony, Imanaka called for greater efforts toward peace education.
Imanaka said he shared concerns about the dwindling memories and attention given to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
"It is not enough for the record of the atomic bombings to just be written in one page in a textbook," said Imanaka, who was near Hiroshima Station -- about 2 km from ground zero -- when the bomb exploded.
"Thousands of people were running or walking around, trying to find refuge. Both young and old were bleeding, some with their skin dangling, others with internal organs exposed," he recalled.
Imanaka retired from teaching in 1978, but said there was not a day when he did not believe in the need to teach the younger generation about the need to create and maintain global peace.
He lost his daughter to leukemia 34 years ago, when she was 17. While his wife Yoshie had also been exposed to the bomb's radiation, no direct link could be established between the bombing and his daughter's disease.
Influenced by the tragedy in his family, Imanaka's son, now 49, is a doctor specializing in study of radiation-exposed patients, and flew to Chernobyl to examine the health of local residents after the nuclear disaster there.
"I pray for the day when cities and nations around the world, not only Hiroshima and Nagasaki, can adopt declarations calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons," Imanaka said.