Hibakusha call for end of N-weapons at Tokyo's U.S. embassy
As U.S. President George Bush stopped in Japan on his way to Southeast Asian nations on October 17, survivors of atomic bombs (Hibakusha) staged a protest in front of the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, calling for the swift abolition of nuclear weapons.
Fourty Hibakusha took part in the action from the Japan Confederation of A and H Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Hidankyo) and the Tokyo Federation of A-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Toyukai).
The Hibakusha criticized Prime Minister Koizumi for deciding to provide the United States 1.5-billion yen in aid and to send Japan's SDF to Iraq as requested by President Bush, and called for a peaceful world free of war and nuclear weapons.
They also conducted a signature-collecting campaign in the Shibuya district of downtown Tokyo, calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons and the cancellation of the plan to exhibit an "Enola Gay" replica in the U.S. Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. (end)
