Hiroshima lanterns released in scaled down event

A limited number of water lanterns were released into the water on Thursday in front of the atomic dome in memory of lives lost during the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

In past years, about 7,000 water lanterns would stream to mark the anniversary but organizers scaled back this time, prohibiting the general public to participate due to COVID-19 concerns.

Only 17 lanterns were released into the water.

Eri Takao, a local representative released a lantern into the water with a prayer for peace.

"This year the scale has been reduced and because of that we thought that we could also float everyone's thoughts together," Takao said.

Passersby stood along the river to watch the scaled down event take place, taking photos and videos from afar.

Kenichi Kajita, a 50 year-old Hiroshima resident whose grandmother was an atomic bomb survivor, came to observe the event from a distance.

"I want there to always be peace, to not forget every year August 6th," she said. :There might be less people, but people who come and people who don't come, I think everyone's thoughts are the same," she added.

The United States dropped the world’s first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, destroying the city and killing 140,000 people.

The United States dropped a second bomb three days later on Nagasaki, killing another 70,000.

Japan surrendered August 15, ending World War II and its nearly half-century of aggression in Asia.

(Representative Image)