Japan Press Weekly

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2023 June 28 - July 4 [PEACE]

Hibakusha call for suspension of plan to conclude agreement on sister ties between Hiroshima and Peal Harbor parks

Ten organizations in Hiroshima City, including a labor union and A-bomb survivors’ groups, on June 27 submitted to City Mayor Matsui Kazumi a written request calling for the cancellation of a plan to conclude a sister city park agreement between Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and the Pearl Harbor National Memorial in Hawaii.

The Hiroshima City government last week announced the plan and explained that it decided on the plan as part of the city’s efforts to implement the G7 leaders’ “Hiroshima Vision” on nuclear disarmament.

The ten organizations in their document criticized the city government’s explanation regarding the planned agreement. They pointed out that the Hiroshima Vision represents G7 leaders’ stance to support the possession of nuclear weapons as deterrence, and expressed their objection by saying that the city government’s plan may play a role in praising the nuclear deterrence policy underling the Hiroshima Vision.

The ten organizations pointed out that the conclusion of the sister park agreement will serve as a tool to defend a false notion of history that the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki brought about the end of the war.

In the submission, Sakuma Kunihiko, who heads the Hiroshima Federation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Hiroshima Hidankyo), criticized the city government for deciding on the plan without holding discussions with Hibakusha and concerned citizens. He demanded that the city authority halt the plan and hear the opinion of Hibakusha and a wider range of citizens.

Past related article:
> JCP Chair: It is unacceptable for G7 Summit to declare adherence to nuclear deterrence doctrine in A-bombed city of Hiroshima [May 21, 2023]