People took to the streets in central Japan's Yaizu City to mark the 70th anniversary of a fishing boat's exposure to radiation from a US hydrogen bomb test. The incident occurred at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.

The Daigo Fukuryu Maru was based in the port city in Shizuoka Prefecture. It was contaminated by radioactive fallout from the nuclear test on March 1, 1954.

The tuna fishing boat was operating in the South Pacific, and its 23 crewmembers were exposed to radiation.

On Friday, about 900 people gathered in front of a train station and marched for about 2 kilometers to the grave of Kuboyama Aikichi, who died six months after the incident.

The participants carried a banner bearing words that he spoke. Kuboyama said that he wanted to be the last victim of an atomic or hydrogen bombing.

At Kuboyama's grave, the participants laid roses and renewed their pledge to try to bring about the abolition of nuclear weapons.

Yamamoto Yoshihiko is a senior member of a foundation that regularly marks the incident. He spoke at a rally held after the march.

He urged Japan, the only country in the world that has suffered atomic bombings, to sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

He stressed that joining the treaty is the most important thing on the 70th anniversary of the incident to fulfill Kuboyama's wishes.

Officials at Tokyo's Daigo Fukuryu Maru Exhibition Hall say that only two of the 23 former crewmembers are now alive.