February 28 & March 1, 2025
As part of the annual Bikini Day events, the Japan Council against A and H Bombs (Japan Gensuikyo) held a national rally on February 28 in Shizuoka City (Shizuoka Pref.) with approximately 1,000 people attending on-site and online from across Japan.
Rally participants expressed their determination to use the awarding of the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize to Nihon Hidankyo as a leverage to strengthen the movement to overcome the nuclear deterrence theory.
Delivering a speech on behalf of the organizers, National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren) President Akiyama Masaomi protested against the Japanese government’s refusal to participate as an observer in the third Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). He called on the participants to work hard to help bring in a government willing to ratify the treaty and realize policies that protect people’s lives and livelihoods.
Gensuikyo Secretary General Yasui Masakazu gave the keynote address. Noting that the number of municipal governments which adopted a resolution urging the Japanese government to sign and ratify the TPNW has reached 697, he appealed for the need to develop the Gensuikyo-proposed campaign for a nuclear-free Japan into a movement in which citizens and their local governments can work together.
From South Korea, Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) Vice President Ham Jae-gyu delivered a speech in solidarity. Grass-roots activists on the stage talked about their activities.
A-bomb survivors (Hibakusha) Sakuma Kunihiko, who heads the Hiroshima Association of A-bomb Sufferers, and Sato Sumito, Nagasaki Gensuikyo secretary general, expressed their determination to boost Hibakusha efforts to abolish nuclear weapons with the awarding to Nihon Hidankyo the Nobel Peace Prize as a driving force.
On the previous day, an international forum took place. Delegates from the U.S., South Korea, Spain, and France discussed with Japanese participants how to improve the movement seeking a world without nuclear weapons with the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings this year and the NPT review conference next year in mind.
Lee Jung Kyu, senior researcher of the Institute for Unification and Peace at Hanshin University in South Korea, said that it is necessary to connect with the world’s antinuke peace movements and pursue the establishment of a framework for multinational cooperation in Northeast Asia.
Gensuikyo Vice Secretary General Tsuchida Yayoi said that in order to have the Japanese government change its stance and join the TPNW, the need is to strengthen drastically the nuclear-free Japan campaign aimed at describing accurately the horoffic consequence associated with the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to people in every corner of the globe in collaboration with Hibakusha.
Rally participants expressed their determination to use the awarding of the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize to Nihon Hidankyo as a leverage to strengthen the movement to overcome the nuclear deterrence theory.
Delivering a speech on behalf of the organizers, National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren) President Akiyama Masaomi protested against the Japanese government’s refusal to participate as an observer in the third Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). He called on the participants to work hard to help bring in a government willing to ratify the treaty and realize policies that protect people’s lives and livelihoods.
Gensuikyo Secretary General Yasui Masakazu gave the keynote address. Noting that the number of municipal governments which adopted a resolution urging the Japanese government to sign and ratify the TPNW has reached 697, he appealed for the need to develop the Gensuikyo-proposed campaign for a nuclear-free Japan into a movement in which citizens and their local governments can work together.
From South Korea, Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) Vice President Ham Jae-gyu delivered a speech in solidarity. Grass-roots activists on the stage talked about their activities.
A-bomb survivors (Hibakusha) Sakuma Kunihiko, who heads the Hiroshima Association of A-bomb Sufferers, and Sato Sumito, Nagasaki Gensuikyo secretary general, expressed their determination to boost Hibakusha efforts to abolish nuclear weapons with the awarding to Nihon Hidankyo the Nobel Peace Prize as a driving force.
On the previous day, an international forum took place. Delegates from the U.S., South Korea, Spain, and France discussed with Japanese participants how to improve the movement seeking a world without nuclear weapons with the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings this year and the NPT review conference next year in mind.
Lee Jung Kyu, senior researcher of the Institute for Unification and Peace at Hanshin University in South Korea, said that it is necessary to connect with the world’s antinuke peace movements and pursue the establishment of a framework for multinational cooperation in Northeast Asia.
Gensuikyo Vice Secretary General Tsuchida Yayoi said that in order to have the Japanese government change its stance and join the TPNW, the need is to strengthen drastically the nuclear-free Japan campaign aimed at describing accurately the horoffic consequence associated with the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to people in every corner of the globe in collaboration with Hibakusha.
