The US, British and Israeli ambassadors to Japan have attended a memorial service at a temple in Tokyo, instead of a ceremony in Nagasaki to mark the city's atomic bombing.

The US and British envoys skipped the annual peace ceremony in Nagasaki on Friday, citing the city's decision not to invite Israel.

The envoys of the other Group of Seven nations also declined to attend.

Zojoji Temple in Tokyo held a Buddhist ceremony to remember the victims of the bombing. The US, British and Israeli ambassadors burned incense and prayed for the deceased.

US Ambassador Rahm Emanuel told reporters that he thinks Nagasaki's decision not to invite Israel was a "political decision, not one based on security," as the city has explained.

Emanuel said he could not attend the ceremony, because if he did, it would have respected a decision to give "a moral equivalency between Russia and Israel, one country that invaded, versus one country that was a victim of invasion."

Russia was also not invited to the ceremony in Nagasaki.