On August 6, 2020, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony was held in Hiroshima. Representatives from 83 countries and the EU, along with Japan, participated, including:

➢ Ambassadorial-level—Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Indonesia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, Syria, Turkey and the United Kingdom
➢ Non-ambassadorial-level—Belgium, Brazil, Germany, India, Israel, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States (Note: underlines denote countries whose ambassadorial-level representatives have attended the ceremony in the past three years)
➢ Not attending—China, Chile, Egypt, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the UAE (Note: underlines denote countries whose representatives have attended the ceremony at least once in the past three years)

As for the Nagasaki Peace Memorial Ceremony on August 9, 2020, representatives from 68 countries and the EU participated, including the following:

➢ Ambassadorial-level—Australia, Austria, France, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom
➢ Non-ambassadorial-level—Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Israel, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States
➢ Not attending—China, Chile, Egypt, India, Iran, South Korea, North Korea, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Africa, Syria, Saudi Arabia and the UAE

At various fora, Japan has proposed that the world’s political leaders visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to witness the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons with their own eyes.

The 2020 UN General Assembly resolution on nuclear disarmament, which was adopted at the initiative of Japan, also mentioned “[w]elcoming the visits of leaders, youth and others to Hiroshima and Nagasaki.” In 2020, due to the global pandemic of COVID-19, there was no visit at the head of state or ministerial level, but prior to that, a visit to Hiroshima was made every year.