Japan marks 81st anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki

Bells tolled in Nagasaki on Sunday to mark the 81st anniversary of the day the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city.

A moment of silence was observed at 11h02, the exact time it exploded in the air killing an estimated 70,000 people by December 1945.

It came three days after the bombing of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945 destroyed the city and killed 140,000 people.

Representatives from more than 90 countries attended a memorial event at Nagasaki Peace Park, which was marked amid heightened geopolitical tensions.

Mayor Shiro Suzuki denounced growing support for nuclear deterrence in the global community, including Japan and demanded his own government do more for nuclear disarmament.

"To all leaders of the nuclear states and nations relying on nuclear deterrence, you must face the reality that the more you rely on nuclear deterrence, the more you increase the risk of a nuclear war," he said in his speech.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in her address said "the devastation caused by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 81 years ago must never be repeated”.

She reiterated her message from Thursday’s Hiroshima commemoration that Japan was continuing to uphold its three non-nuclear principles.

Takaichi said that the country would promote "realistic and practical" efforts toward realising a world free of nuclear weapons.

Her comments come amid a growing debate over whether Japan should rethink its longstanding principles of not producing, possessing, or allowing nuclear weapons.

Ageing survivors have expressed concern over increasing support for the possession of nuclear weapons for deterrence by the international community, including Japan.