January 8, 2025

The Japanese Communist Party Tokyo Metropolitan Assemblymembers’ group on January 6 submitted to Governor Koike Yuriko a written request demanding that the governor, in this year marking 80 years since the end of the Pacific War, embark on the plan to construct a “peace memorial museum” whose construction was frozen just before the commencement of work was to begin.

The JCP in its document called for conducting an accurate survey of the number of victims of U.S. bombings of Tokyo. In addition, it requested that in collaboration with the Tokyo Federation of A-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Toyukai), which is affiliated with the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nihon Hidankyo, the metropolitan government provide Tokyoites opportunities to view exhibits of A-bomb photos and hear Hibakusha testimonies.

Furthermore, the JCP noted that 5,000 war-related materials slated for museum exhibit which were offered by Tokyo residents in response to the call by the Tokyo government have been put on hold indefinitely, and demanded that the Tokyo government display the 5,000 materials to the public.

In the submission, the JCP assemblymembers’ group pointed out that Governor Koike at a Metropolitan Assembly meeting in December 2024 stated that it is important to pass down the memories of the war to future generations and instill them the importance of peace, adding that to pass down atomic bombing memories to the next generation as common human memories is the current generation’s important mission.

Pointing out that people who experienced the war are aging, the JCP group said that the Tokyo government should establish a place for learning from the survivors about the extent to which Tokyo was bombed during the war without delay.

An official of the metropolitan government cultural promotion section, Hachiya Noriko, in response expressed her intent to share and consider the JCP demands with other relevant sections.