The pocket watch was ticking away faithfully, keeping good time even on that day. It was a bright and sunny morning. The hands of the clock read after 8 o’clock. At 8:15 on the morning of August 6, 1945, the sky over Hiroshima burst into bright red light, the flash sending flying everything in its path. Sixty-five long years have elapsed since that day. Nuclear arms have continued to proliferate and the world has more nuclear powers than ever. In July this year, designer Issey Miyake contributed a courageous piece to the editorial pages of the New York Times. In that article, Miyake appealed to President Obama to attend the Peace Memorial Ceremony on August 6 and expressed a fervent wish that the American president would accept his invitation. Issey Miyake was seven years old when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and as a survivor of that bombing his voice carries an unprecedented power. With the US and Russia now calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons, 2009 promises to be a momentous year in the movement for universal peace.