2010 February 24 - March 2 [
POLITICS]
Peace march commemorating U.S. H-bomb test victim
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March 2, 2010
Marking the 56th anniversary since the U.S. H-bomb test explosion at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific, 1,500 people on March 1 marched in demonstration to the tomb of Kuboyama Aikichi at Kotokuin Temple in Yaizu City in Shizuoka Prefecture where the disaster-stricken Japanese fishing boat Daigo Fukuryumaru was homeported.
Kuboyama Aikichi was showered with radioactive fallout while he was on board the Daigo Fukuryumaru and died of radiation-induced diseases, and his last words were, “Let me be the last victim of atomic and hydrogen bombs.”
Yaizu City Mayor Shimizu Hiroshi at a rally held after the march expressed his intention to attend the NPT Review Conference as a member of the Mayors for Peace to call for the abolition of nuclear weapons.
Daigo Fukuryumaru’s ex-crewmembers Misaki Yoshio and Oishi Matashichi were also present at the rally along with Abacca Anjain who represents the nuclear disaster-hit island of Rongelap in the Pacific.
In Shizuoka Prefecture, 70 percent of municipal heads have supported the signature campaign “For a Nuclear-Weapons Free World” and the prefecture has declared itself nuclear-free.
- Akahata, March 2, 2010