In a first, US sends representative to commemoration of Nagasaki bombing

Obama last year sent Ambassador John Roos to the 65th anniversary of the bombing in Hiroshima, and Roos visited Nagasaki twice last year on other dates, according to the US Embassy in Japan.

Zumwalt joined Nagasaki’s residents and mayor yesterday in observing a moment of silence at 11:02 a.m., the moment the bomb dropped on the city on Aug. 9, 1945, in the closing days of the war. Six days later, Japan surrendered.

As in past years, a bell rang out in a prayer for peace, and bomb victims who were children during the attack sang a song called “Never Again.’’

Mayor Tomihisa Taue called on Japan to change its nuclear policy and reject not just atomic weapons but also nuclear power, as decades-old fears of radiation sickness were renewed in March by a nuclear power plant disaster following a massive earthquake and tsunami.

“Why must this nation that has so long fought for bomb victims once again live in fear of radiation?’’ Taue said. “The time has come to thoroughly talk about what kind of society we want and make a choice.’’

He called for a shift from nuclear reactors - Japan has 54 along its coast - to renewable-energy sources.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan promised that Japan would work to become less dependent on nuclear energy with the aim of “becoming a society free of dependence on nuclear power.’’

“We must never forget,’’ he said of Nagasaki, “and it must never be repeated.’’