Urakami Cathedral Receives 2nd Bell in Restoration Project; Bells to Ring Together on Atomic Bombing 80th Anniversary

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:43 JST, July 18, 2025

NAGASAKI — A new bell has been installed in Urakami Cathedral’s twin bell towers, with the previous one having been destroyed in the blast of the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki in 1945.

One of the two original bells installed in the steeples survived the blast and is still in use, and the other bell was recently donated as part of a restoration project.

The new bell was hoisted by a crane to be set in the tower on Thursday, and the pair will ring together on Aug. 9 to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the bombing.

The new bronze bell, measuring 66 centimeters tall and 80.7 centimeters in diameter, was made by James Nolan Jr., 62, a professor at Williams College in the United States, who solicited donations for the restoration project. He is the grandson of a doctor who participated in the Manhattan Project, a U.S. program for the research and development of atomic bombs.

At a ceremony held before the installation, Nolan rang the bell alongside Kojiro Moriuchi, 72, a second-generation atomic bomb survivor from Nagasaki who proposed the creation of the new bell.