February 28, 2023

Antinuke events commemorating the horrendous U.S. hydrogen bomb text explosion at Bikini Atoll of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific in 1954 started on February 27 in Shizuoka City in Shizuoka Prefecture.

The Japan Council against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs (Japan Gensuikyo) hosted an international meeting with 112 citizens participating, including overseas delegates from France, the Republic of Korea, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands. They interacted with each other talking about their daily activities and efforts to realize a world without nuclear weapons.

Japan Gensuikyo Representative Director Yoneyama Junko, president of the New Japan Women's Association (Shinfujin), delivered the opening speech. She noted that the global campaign in opposition to the use or threats to use nuclear weapons is increasing as military confrontations and divisions are becoming intense in some parts of the world. She said, "I hope that the meeting will provide the opportunity for all of us to discuss ways to establish a nuclear-weapons free world as well as ways to have the Japanese government sign and ratify the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW)."

Remy Collot, a student at the French Institute of Geopolitics, said that the major nuclear-weapons states must stop the nuclear arms race right now.

Abacca Anjain-Maddison, former senator of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, gave a true picture of the continuing damage caused by the radiation from 67 nuclear bomb tests conducted in the area.

Lee Jung Kyu, senior researcher of the Institute for Unification and Peace at Hanshin University in South Korea, underscored the need to oppose military provocations on the Korean Peninsula and in the rest of East Asia and to oppose the militarization of the surrounding areas.

Japan Gensuikyo Vice Secretary Tsuchida Yayoi pointed out that Japan's participation in the UN TPNW will contribute to promoting the world move toward the elimination of nuclear weapons. She called on the world's antinuke/peace activists to work for a nuclear-free world.

Michaela Czerkies of the Peace Action New York State took part in the meeting via online video and reported on her organization's grassroots activities aiming at the abolition of nuclear weapons.