In Hiroshima, on August 6, church bells ring at 8:15 am, the exact moment the bomb dropped. That begins a day of remembrance ceremonies that culminates in the hauntingly beautiful Toro Nagashi festival, where hundreds of lanterns are floated down the Motoyasu River, in front of the Atomic Bomb Dome.
Toro Nagashi began in Tokyo in 1946, and Hiroshima picked it up the following year. The lanterns are a tribute to those who perished in the bombing and an assurance that Hiroshima and the world will never forget what happened there on August 6, 1945.