It has been revealed that US and European ambassadors to Japan jointly sent a letter of concern to the mayor of Nagasaki last month over the city's decision not to invite Israel to an annual peace event.

The letter dated July 19 was sent to Nagasaki under the names of the ambassadors from the Group of Seven nations, except Japan, and the Tokyo-based representative of the European Union.

The Nagasaki city government will hold a ceremony on Friday to mark the 79th anniversary of the US atomic bombing of the city.

Mayor Suzuki Shiro said in early June that the city would not send a letter of invitation to Israel at that moment in time. The mayor also announced last Wednesday the city's decision not to invite Israel to the ceremony.

The envoys said in the letter that not inviting Israel "would result in placing Israel on the same level with countries such as Russia and Belarus, who are the only other countries not invited to this ceremony." They went on to say, "Such an eventuality would be unfortunate and misleading."

They then called on the mayor to extend an invitation to Israel to preserve the universal message of the ceremony.

They also closed the letter by saying that if Israel was excluded, "it would become difficult for us to have high-level participation in this event."

It has been known that US ambassador Rahm Emanuel and British ambassador Julia Longbottom will not attend the Nagasaki ceremony following the city's decision not to invite Israel.