High school students from 17 prefectures formed a human chain in Nagasaki on Friday, which marked the 79th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of the city, to show solidarity for the abolition of nuclear weapons and world peace.
At the hypocenter park in the city, about 100 people, including students playing the role of "peace messengers," laid flowers at a monument built to remember victims of the atomic bombing on Aug. 9, 1945, in the closing days of World War II, and then held hands with each other to form a human chain and encircle the monument.
"We will continue making efforts to realize a world without nuclear weapons and war under the slogan that 'we are not powerless although our power is weak,'" Rintaro Sato, a 17-year-old second-year high school student from Iwate Prefecture, said, representing the participants.