00:00At 2.45 in the morning, August 6, 1945,
00:13Colonel Tibbetts takes the Enola Gay down the runway into the air,
00:18beginning the six-and-one-half-hour flight to Japan.
00:23The Enola Gay begins the bomb run.
00:28The bomb is dropped.
00:31Eighty years ago, at about 8.15 in the morning,
00:34the people of Hiroshima saw a blinding flash in the sky.
00:38An atomic bomb dropped by the United States
00:41exploded about 600 meters above where I'm standing right now.
00:46原石爆弾が投下され一瞬にして
00:56Atari-mai-no-nichi-jo-ga-hi-e-mashita-dare-na-no-ka-wakara-nai-gulai-hi-fu-ga-tada-leta-hito-bito-nami-da-to-tomo-ni-tomara-nai-detsubou-no-ko-e.
01:13On the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing, Taiwanese representatives are joining the annual
01:19Peace Memorial Ceremony for the first time ever.
01:22This event, held every year since 1947, honors the roughly 140,000 victims of a 1945 bombing
01:30and calls for a world free of nuclear weapons.
01:35Taiwan has never officially been included in this ceremony, despite its connection to Japan's
01:39wartime history.
01:41Taiwan was part of a Japanese empire at the time, and while records are incomplete, historians
01:45estimate around 2,000 Taiwanese were killed at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
01:50It took until 2008, actually, for Taiwanese, and I think any kind of non-Japanese, to have
01:55their medical records assessed outside of Japan.
01:58They also had to provide documentation of being within the bomb blast area, and that was
02:04quite difficult for them to provide decades after the incident.
02:07And while Taiwan's role in Japanese history may often be overlooked, events like this are
02:12important in determining its future.
02:15Taiwan's ambassador to Japan, Li Yi Yang, was seen shaking hands and talking with his American
02:21counterpart, George Glass.
02:23And still, while Taiwan's presence here is significant, the somber processions are a reminder
02:28that nuclear war leaves no nation untouched.
02:31Taiwan's presence at this ceremony reflects a broader truth, that the impact of Hiroshima
02:46spans generations and crosses borders.
02:50Even today, nuclear weapons remain at the center of global tensions, with world leaders, including
02:55U.S. President Donald Trump invoking them in threats just days ago.
03:00For people gathered here, that's exactly why this ceremony still matters.
03:05Ryan Wu, Jeffrey Chen, and Brynn Thomas in Hiroshima for Taiwan Plus.
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