Japan Press Weekly

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2014 September 24 - 30 TOP3 [PEACE]

Nationwide actions take place on International Day for Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons

On September 26, the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, various kinds of anti-nuke actions took place at more than 100 locations across Japan.

The International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons was established by United Nations last year with the aim to increase global efforts to create a world free from nuclear weapons.

In Tokyo, the Japan Council against A and H Bombs (Japan Gensuikyo) held a rally to celebrate this International day at the Dietmembers’ Office building.

A woman who survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima 69 years ago and lost her relatives at that time said to the audience, “The very existence of nuclear weapons is unacceptable from a humanitarian point of view.”

Gensuikyo Secretary General Yasui Masakazu in his speech called on the participants to work to submit to the 2015 NPT Review Conference more than seven million petition signatures calling for the total ban of nuclear weapons, exceeding the number of signatures presented to the previous conference in 2010.

In Hiroshima and Nagasaki cities, local branches of Gensuikyo and the Japan Confederation of A- and H- Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo) took to the streets to collect signatures for the petition.

Meanwhile on the same day, Nihon Hidankyo issued a statement strongly calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons while A-bomb survivors are still alive.