The photos and drawings of and by survivors of the first nuclear weapon ever used against people are hard to look at.

"I was raised in Japan, but I just learned this in textbooks," said the young immigrant.

Yasue was surprised Aug. 6 to see about 50 Canadians, many with no connection to Japan, turn out at the end of a work day to commemorate the bombing of Hiroshima.

"I was just amazed," she said. "I expected mostly Japanese."

A much larger crowd took in a full-scale commemoration ceremony Aug. 9, Nagasaki Day, which included live music, Japanese drummers, dancers and a lantern ceremony in Nathan Phillips Square. The square in front of City Hall has been home to the Peace Garden since 1983. The Peace Garden incorporates an eternal flame from Hiroshima and water from the fountain at the centre of Nagasaki's Peace Park.

The United States dropped Little Boy on the civilian population of Hiroshima killing between 90,000 and 140,000 in one day as the Second World War was in its final stages. By 1950 deaths from that bombing rose to about 200,000 and thousands more died of cancers and other effects of the bomb over subsequent decades.

Nagasaki was hit with a second atom bomb, named Fat Man, Aug. 9, 1945. That bomb killed between 60,000 and 80,000 immediately and brought the war to an end.

Memorials in the two cities record almost 400,000 hibakusha, or survivors, of the bombings — 253,008 in Hiroshima and 143,124 in Nagasaki. The United States justified the bombings on the grounds that the attacks on civilian populations would end the war sooner.

Setsuko Thurlow, a Hiroshima survivor who lives in Toronto and who was one of the founders of the Peace Garden, said it is more important than ever to remind people of the bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

"The nuclear weapons situation hasn't improved," she said. "Nuclear weapons states seem to be just floundering and don't know what to do."

Peace Garden founder Fr. Massey Lombardi called Hiroshima Day "both a warning and a wake-up call for the people of Toronto."

"The threat of nuclear war is not gone. We can't be complacent," said Lombardi.

"It's very important to do this," said Yasue. "It shouldn't happen again."

The photo display in the rotunda of City Hall was on display until Aug. 11.