Japanese prime minister Shigeru Ishiba (second from right) attended the ceremony in Hiroshima, along with representatives from around the world
A silent prayer was held in Japan on Wednesday morning as it marked 80 years since the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima.
Japanese prime minister Shigeru Ishiba attended the ceremony on Wednesday, along with officials from around the world and the city's mayor Kazumi Matsui.
Matsui warned of a global "accelerating trend toward military build-up... [and] the idea that nuclear weapons are essential for national defence", saying this was a "flagrant disregard [of] the lessons the international community should have learned from the tragedies of history".
World War Two ended with Japan's surrender after the dropping of the bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The bombs killed more than 200,000 people - some from the immediate blast and others from radiation sickness and burns.
The legacy of the weapons continues to haunt survivors today.
"My father was badly burned and blinded by the blast. His skin was hanging from his body - he couldn't even hold my hand," Hiroshima survivor Shingo Naito told the BBC. He was six years old when the bomb struck his city, killing his father and two younger siblings.
Mr Naito has been sharing his story with a group of students in Hiroshima, who are turning his memories of the tragedy into art.