Hiroshima Hibakusha protest U.S. N-test

The Hiroshima Prefectural Council against A & H Bombs and the Hiroshima Prefectural Federation of A & H Bombs Sufferers Organization on September 25 sent a letter to U.S. President George W. Bush through the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo in protest against the U.S. subcritical nuclear test scheduled for September 27 (local time).

President Bush is now urging Congress to give him authority to wage any action against Iraq, including the use of force. In the "National Security Strategy" report, the Bush administration cited Iraq and North Korea as countries that develop weapons of mass destruction, and focuses on preemptive attacks on hostile countries or terrorist organizations.

The letter criticized that such U.S. strategy and the 19th subcritical nuclear test, the 6th since Bush took office, will make the world more dangerous.

Protests across Japan

In Tokyo, Hibakusha (A-bomb survivors) massed in front of the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo on September 27 in protest against the U.S. subcritical nuclear test conducted on the same day at 4 a.m. (U.S. Pacific Time) in Nevada. Protesters said, "If the Bush administration wants to boast of its enormous power, it should use such power for a world free of war."

In Hiroshima, a peace watch tower, displaying the days since the last nuclear test, was reset from 28 to zero. The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum director sighed aloud, "In less than one month from the previous test, again, I had to press the reset button." About 90 Hiroshima Hibakusha held a sit-in at the Peace Monument in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.

The Nagasaki Prefectural Council against A & H Bombs collected signatures in protest against the nuclear test and held an A-bomb photo exhibition in Nagasaki Peace Park. A tourist who signed said, "It's shameful that the Japanese government doesn't say anything in protest to the U.S."

Itoh Iccho, mayor of Nagasaki, commented that the nuclear test this time was a threat of the possible use of nuclear weapons in a U.S. military attack on Iraq.

The Yaizu City Assembly in Shizuoka Prefecture sent a protest letter to U.S. President George W. Bush. The city has a mother port of a fishing boat that was exposed to radiation in the 1954 U.S. hydrogen bomb test explosion in the Pacific.

Trade unions, a small business owners' group, medical-related workers, citizens calling for a nuclear-free government, and women's groups also carried out protest action. (end)