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On August 6, 1945, at 8:15 a.m., a US Air Force plane dropped on Hiroshima the "Little Boy" atomic bomb. In the ensuing explosion and the fires it caused, 100 thousand people lost their lives or were declared missing, and even more were later exposed to radiation with catastrophic consequences. The vast majority of the victims were civilians. On August 9, the city of Nagasaki was bombed, too.

77 years later, at exactly 8:15 a.m., the "Bell of Peace", presented to Volgograd by the authorities of the related Japanese city, was rung three times in the "Stalingrad Battle" panorama museum. After a minute of silence in memory of the victims of the bombing, the ceremony participants laid fresh flowers and paper cranes at the foot of the bell. In Hiroshima itself, such paper cranes are traditionally brought to the Peace Memorial Park to the statue of Sadako Sasaki, a Japanese girl who had believed that a thousand of such paper figures could grant her wish to be cured from radiation-induced leukemia – but died before completing the task.

Then the commemorative event continued in the cinema hall of the museum, where the organizers of the most interesting and popular cultural and educational Japan-themed events spoke about their projects.

The director of the Maksim Gorky Volgograd Regional Universal Academic Library Ms. Svetlana Safronova announced that on August 15, an exhibition of children's drawings in memory of the A-bomb victims will open at the Library, and on September 25, the 10th "Japanese Cupboard" School Alternative Festival of Japanese Culture will be held.

Staff members of Volgograd Regional Library for Young Adults Ms. Alexandra Mostyakova and Mr. Sergey Babenko invited everyone to their "ChitalNYA" mini-festival for cosplayers, dancers and singers, scheduled for August 28.

Finally, the Chair of the Volgograd regional branch of the All-Russian public organization "Russia – Japan" Society" Ms. Elena Samigulina pointed out that the week before an exhibition of Japanese arts and crafts opened in Volgograd, featuring a large collection of authentic clothes, handbags, dolls, hair accessories and fans circa 1930- 1980s

As pointed out by the participants, the preservation of the humanitarian ties between sister-cities seems to be especially significant under the current circumstances.