September 26, 2020

A rally calling to have Japan join the UN treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons took place on September 25 in the Diet building. The Japan Council against A & H Bombs (Japan Gensuikyo) organized this event on the sidelines of the UN-designated International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons (September 26).

In the rally, in addition to Hibakusha and antinuke activists, representatives of the Civil Alliance and opposition parties including the Japanese Communist Party also attended.

Gensuikyo Secretary General Yasui Masakazu delivered the opening speech and said that the UN treaty banning nuclear weapons will enter into force if only five more nations ratify the treaty. He added, “Let us take the rally as an opportunity to make a significant step forward toward realizing a government willing to join the N-ban treaty, which is the right thing to do for the only A-bombed nation, and strengthening joint struggles of opposition parties and concerned citizens to achieve that end.”

Hosei University Professor Yamaguchi Jiro on behalf of the Civil Alliance reported that the organization handed to the JCP and other constitutional opposition parties its written request which includes Japan’s ratification of the antinuke UN treaty. He said that the opposition parties in their reply expressed their determination to take over the present government in the next general election. Yamaguchi said, “Japan’s participation in the UN treaty and other pivotal issues in the confrontation with the Suga government become clear. Let us work hard to establish a new government that will make Japan a truly pacifist nation.”

Along with other opposition party representatives, JCP lawmaker Inoue Satoshi delivered a speech in solidarity. He expressed his determination to realize a coalition government of opposition parties in order to have Japan ratify the UN nuclear weapons ban treaty.

Secretary General of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bombs Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo) Kido Sueichi stressed the need to put an end to the government policy of turning its back on the abolition of nuclear weapons and the provision of compensation to Hibakusha.

Gensuikyo Vice Secretary General Tsuchida Yayoi reported on the Gensuikyo’s plan to launch a campaign aiming to push the government to ratify the UN treaty, and appealed for the need to increase public awareness that peace will never be maintained by nuclear weapons.