nuke

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

Anti-nuclear nationwide peace march starts

On May 6, the 49th nationwide peace march calling for a nuclear-free world started, heading for atomic bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki cities.

In Tokyo, about 1,000 people, including A-bomb survivors (Hibakusha), people of faith, and many young people, started off to Hiroshima after taking part in a rally in front of the museum of the Lucky Dragon #5, a tuna fishing boat that was exposed to radiation caused by a U.S. hydrogen bomb test explosion at Bikini Atoll in 1954. The march is scheduled to arrive at Hiroshima in August.

The march was led by young activists who were calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons and the defense of the war-renouncing Japanese Constitution with reggae music playing in the background.

Started in 1958, the annual peace march has become a nationwide movement in which about 100,000 people take part in nearly 70 percent of municipalities in Japan. It is carried out on 11 major courses connecting one prefecture to another as well as on mesh-like courses within each prefecture.

During the marches, participants visit local municipalities to request them to adopt a nuclear-free declaration and to support a signature campaign calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons.
- Akahata, April 26, May 7, 2006