antiatom3

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

2006 Bikini Day approaching

Bikini Day events will begin with the International Forum on February 27, followed by the 52nd Bikini Day Rally on March 1 in Shizuoka and Yaizu cities in Shizuoka Prefecture.

Panelists of the International Forum will be Joanne Comerford of the American Friends Service Committee (U.S.A); Kang Je-suk of the Peace Project Network (Republic of Korea); graduate student in political science Lee Ryong Kyong (Republic of Korea); Corazon Fabros of the Nuclear-Free Philippines Coalition (Philippines); and Sugimori Nagako of the Japan Section of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF).

They will discuss establishing a nuclear weapon-free, peaceful and just world as well as exploring ways to increase worldwide joint efforts, including the new international signature campaign "For Swift Abolition of Nuclear Weapons" being carried out by the Japan Council against A & H Bombs (Japan Gensuikyo).

On the eve of Bikini Day, Japan Gensuikyo will hold the 2006 Bikini Day National Conference on the theme of swift abolition of nuclear weapons, a Japan standing firm on non-nuclear principles and Article 9, and supporting the Hibakusha. Two programs organized by students and young people will also take place on this day.

After the Gensuikyo national conference, participants will be broken up into five workshops, including a field trip to Yaizu Port, the homeport of Lucy Dragon No.5 (Daigo-Fukuryumaru).

On March 1st, the 52nd Bikini Day Rally will be held after a peace march through Yaizu City to the grave of Kuboyama Aikichi, the Lucky Dragon No. 5's chief radio operator who died six months after exposure to the radiation at the age of 40, and a memorial ceremony will be held in front of his grave at Kotokuin Temple.

Bikini Day events take place every year to heighten public awareness and increase the movement for a total ban of nuclear weapons throughout the world, carrying on the nationwide anti-nuclear movement triggered by the Japanese fishing boat being showered with radioactive fall-out from a U.S. hydrogen bomb test explosion at Bikini Atoll in 1954.
- Akahata, February 14, 2006