February 27, 28, & March 1, 2011
The three-day anti-nuclear “Bikini Day” events began on February 27 in Shizuoka and Yaizu cities in Shizuoka Prefecture.
Marking the 57th anniversary of the 1954 Bikini tragedy caused by a U.S. hydrogen bomb test, this year’s events were held with the slogan calling for peace movements and global solidarity to achieve a world without nuclear weapons, realize a peaceful Japan without nuclear weapons, and a break away from the so-called U.S. “nuclear umbrella.” Participants shared their experiences with the view to make the new signature campaign “Appeal for a Total Ban on Nuclear Weapons” a nation-wide movement.
On February 27, an international forum was held to discuss the next step toward a nuclear weapon-free world with 160 participants attending.
At the forum, guests from foreign countries including the United States, South Korea, Australia and the Marshall Islands made speeches. Tim Wright from the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) Australia appealed to the participants to help create a powerful wave of public opinion calling for a treaty banning nuclear weapons. Alson Kelen, Mayor of the Bikini Atoll, said many victims of nuclear tests who were forced to leave their homeland, cannot return due to the remaining radioactive contamination even 57 years after the tests.
On the second day, the Japan Council against A and H Bombs (Japan Gensuikyo) held a national rally and seven workshops attended by 1,000 people from all over the country.
At the rally, young people on the stage and other participants standing in the hall chanted “No Nukes” “Abolish Now!” with their fists thrust high in the air. Young people from Hokkaido collected 150 signatures in less than half a month. Young participants from Osaka, who went to New York for the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty Review Conference last May cheerfully said, “We actually felt we are moving world politics.”
In his keynote speech, Japan Gensuikyo Secretary General Yasui Masakazu said if nuclear-weapon states are willing to do so, negotiations on a nuclear weapons convention can immediately start. He emphasized it is important for Japan, the only A-bombed country, to take the initiative to promote this. Yasui called for the start of a major movement with the aim of submitting collected signatures to the annual U.N. General Assembly session to be held in October.
At the rally, Japan Confederation A- and H- Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo) Assistant Secretary General Kido Sueichi and Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Councilors Tamura Tomoko promised to play their part in helping to broaden the signature campaign.
The United States on March 1, 1954 conducted an H-bomb test near Bikini Atoll in the Marshal Islands, causing severe damage to many Japanese fishing boats including the Daigo Fukuryumaru (Lucky Dragon Number Five) and the many inhabitants of the islands. To commemorate this tragedy and renew the pledge to eliminate nuclear weapons, Bikini Day events have been held every year around March 1.
Marking the 57th anniversary of the 1954 Bikini tragedy caused by a U.S. hydrogen bomb test, this year’s events were held with the slogan calling for peace movements and global solidarity to achieve a world without nuclear weapons, realize a peaceful Japan without nuclear weapons, and a break away from the so-called U.S. “nuclear umbrella.” Participants shared their experiences with the view to make the new signature campaign “Appeal for a Total Ban on Nuclear Weapons” a nation-wide movement.
On February 27, an international forum was held to discuss the next step toward a nuclear weapon-free world with 160 participants attending.
At the forum, guests from foreign countries including the United States, South Korea, Australia and the Marshall Islands made speeches. Tim Wright from the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) Australia appealed to the participants to help create a powerful wave of public opinion calling for a treaty banning nuclear weapons. Alson Kelen, Mayor of the Bikini Atoll, said many victims of nuclear tests who were forced to leave their homeland, cannot return due to the remaining radioactive contamination even 57 years after the tests.
On the second day, the Japan Council against A and H Bombs (Japan Gensuikyo) held a national rally and seven workshops attended by 1,000 people from all over the country.
At the rally, young people on the stage and other participants standing in the hall chanted “No Nukes” “Abolish Now!” with their fists thrust high in the air. Young people from Hokkaido collected 150 signatures in less than half a month. Young participants from Osaka, who went to New York for the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty Review Conference last May cheerfully said, “We actually felt we are moving world politics.”
In his keynote speech, Japan Gensuikyo Secretary General Yasui Masakazu said if nuclear-weapon states are willing to do so, negotiations on a nuclear weapons convention can immediately start. He emphasized it is important for Japan, the only A-bombed country, to take the initiative to promote this. Yasui called for the start of a major movement with the aim of submitting collected signatures to the annual U.N. General Assembly session to be held in October.
At the rally, Japan Confederation A- and H- Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo) Assistant Secretary General Kido Sueichi and Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Councilors Tamura Tomoko promised to play their part in helping to broaden the signature campaign.
The United States on March 1, 1954 conducted an H-bomb test near Bikini Atoll in the Marshal Islands, causing severe damage to many Japanese fishing boats including the Daigo Fukuryumaru (Lucky Dragon Number Five) and the many inhabitants of the islands. To commemorate this tragedy and renew the pledge to eliminate nuclear weapons, Bikini Day events have been held every year around March 1.
