Japan marks 75th anniversary of Hiroshima bombing

The normal lantern ceremony was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Photo by Keizo Mori/UPI

Participants maintain social distance during the ceremony for the atomic bomb victims at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. Photo by Keizo Mori/UPI

Attendees pray for the victims. Photo by Keizo Mori/UPI

The ceremony this year was scaled down, with fewer than 800 people present, as a precaution to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Photo by Keizo Mori/UPI

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks during the ceremony. Photo by Keizo Mori/UPI

Attendees participated in a moment of silence at the time marking the moment the atomic bomb was dropped in 1945. Photo by Keizo Mori/UPI

"Civil society must reject self-centered nationalism and unite against all threats," Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui said. "Hiroshima considers it our duty to build in civil society a consensus that the people of the world must unite to achieve nuclear weapons abolition and lasting world peace." Photo by Keizo Mori/UPI

Japan's health ministry says that average age of survivors is now 83.3 years old and there is some fear the lessons from the bombing could be lost. Photo by Keizo Mori/UPI

A thermographic camera is used to check the temperature of participants at the entrance for ceremony. Photo by Keizo Mori/UPI