On August 6, 2021, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony was held in Hiroshima. Representatives from 83 countries and the EU, along with Japan, participated, including:

➢ Ambassadorial-level—Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Egypt, Germany, Indonesia, Israel, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines, Switzerland, Turkey, UAE, the United Kingdom and the United States
➢ Non-ambassadorial-level—Australia, France, India, South Korea, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland and Russia (Note: underlines denote countries whose ambassadorial-level representatives have attended the ceremony in the past three years)
➢ Not attending—Austria, Chile, China, Iran, North Korea, Nigeria, Norway, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sweden and Syria (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, 2021, representatives from 68 countries and the EU participated, including the following:

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

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 2021 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. Meanwhile, in July 2021, International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach offered flowers at the Cenotaph for the Atomic Bomb Victims and toured the Peace Memorial Museum.