The Japanese city of Nagasaki is marking 70 years since the dropping of an atomic bomb by the United States.
A ceremony at the Nagasaki Peace Park observed a minute's silence.
Speeches by a survivor and Nagasaki's mayor both criticised the attending Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for his plans to loosen the restrictions on what Japan's military can do.
At least 70,000 died in the Nagasaki attack, which came three days after another bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.
Nagasaki was only chosen because the original target, Kokura, was obscured by a cloud.
A solemn ceremony in front of guests from 75 countries, including US ambassador Caroline Kennedy, began on Sunday with a declaration read out by children.
A minute's silence and bells marked the time of the explosion at 11:02 (02:02 GMT).
Nagasaki mayor Tomihisa Taue then delivered a peace declaration to the ceremony. He said there was "widespread unease" about Mr Abe's legislation that will alter the constitutional requirement limiting Japan's military to self defence.
A survivor of the Nagasaki attack, 86-year-old Sumiteru Taniguchi, described the injuries he had suffered and said he could not accept Mr Abe's new legislation.
In his address to the ceremony, Mr Abe said Japan remained "determined to pursue a world without nuclear weapons".
In a statement read out on his behalf, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said: "Nagasaki must be the last - we cannot allow any future use of nuclear weapons. The humanitarian consequences are too great. No more Nagasakis. No more Hiroshimas."
The BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in Tokyo says that a real passion has grown in both Nagasaki and Hiroshima for peace and nuclear disarmament.
He says that is perhaps why Mr Abe, who is seen as a revisionist who has questioned the judgments made on Japan for its actions during World War Two, was applauded with much less enthusiasm than for the other speakers.
'Thunder in a clear sky'
The effects of the bomb were instant and devastating. It destroyed a third of the city, killing thousands instantly and condemning more to death from radiation sickness.
Days later, Japan surrendered, ending World War Two, although the necessity of the two bombs has been debated ever since.
"It was a clear, sunny day and there was a sudden, blinding flash," remembered one Nagasaki survivor, Toru Mine, who now guides visitors at a museum dedicated to the event.
"My first thought was that it should be a thunder, but I soon realised it's bizarre to have a thunder in a clear sky."
Mr Taniguchi still bears scars on his back, the remains of three ribs that half rotted after the bomb dropped protruding from his chest.
''While people around me were dying, I lived. People say I survived but I think I was kept alive. I am still suffering," he said.
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