Japan Press Weekly

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2009 February 25 - March 3 [ANTI-N-ARMS]

International peace activists hold Bikini Day forum

On the eve of the 55th anniversary of the Bikini Day tragedy caused by a U.S. hydrogen bomb text explosion in the South Pacific, the Japan Council against A & H Bombs (Japan Gensuikyo) held an international forum on February 28 in Shizuoka City.

In the panel discussion, participants that included peace activists from the United States, Australia, and the Philippines, shared the view that the movement should be further strengthened toward the 2010 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference.

Joseph Gainza from the American Friends Service Committee/Vermont pointed out that the anti-nuclear movement led by Hibakusha (A-bomb) is developing successfully. He said that Barack Obama’s presidency is a favorable factors in the present international situation but that there are forces that are firmly opposed to the movement toward nuclear disarmament.

Tilman Ruff, a medical doctor representing the Australian Medical Association for the Prevention of Nuclear War, emphasized that Japan and Australia should stop depending on U.S. nuclear deterrence as the most effective step the two countries can do to promote the outlawing of the genocidal weapons.

Corazon Fabros from the Nuclear-Free Philippine Coalition spoke about the U.S. military attempt to strengthen Guam as its foothold in the Western Pacific using Japanese tax money.

Tsuchida Yayoi, deputy secretary general of Japan Gensuikyo, condemned the Japanese government for clinging to depending on the “nuclear umbrella” even at a time when the international situation is turning favorable for the abolition of nuclear weapons. She also said that the movement should increase its effort to let the public know the horrors in detail of atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which is the most effective activity to induce governments to establish the political will to make progress toward getting nuclear weapons abolished.”