Outgoing Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue on Tuesday called for continuing efforts to spread awareness of the horror of nuclear weapons as he recalled his 16 years as head of the city in southwestern Japan, the site of an atomic bomb attack in World War II.

Taue, who has decided to retire from politics after serving four terms, will be passing the reins to Shiro Suzuki, 55, a former transport ministry official who won Sunday's mayoral election. Taue, 66, had tapped Suzuki as his successor.

Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue speaks at a press conference in Nagasaki, southwestern Japan, on April 25, 2023. (Kyodo)

"It is important to continue to work with Hiroshima and convey the reality" of nuclear attacks, Taue told a press conference, referring to the western Japan city where the United States first dropped an atomic bomb in 1945 before doing so days later in Nagasaki.

Taue was first elected as a stand-in in 2007 after the mayor at the time, Itcho Ito, was fatally shot by a senior member of a crime syndicate during an election campaign.

"It was 16 years of evolution," said Taue, who has campaigned in both Japan and overseas for the elimination of nuclear arms, advocating that Nagasaki should remain "the last city to suffer an atomic bombing."

In the hope of passing on the memories of aging atomic bomb survivors to future generations, Taue has introduced a project that would train people to recount victims' experiences on their behalf.

"Keeping in mind that the time will come when atomic bomb survivors will be gone, I have worked to create a system so that the realities will continue to be conveyed," he said.

He welcomed a U.N. treaty banning nuclear weapons, which entered into force in 2021, calling it "a historical event."

Taue traveled abroad 21 times to attend meetings related to nuclear disarmament and abolition, including the review conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.