Japan Press Weekly

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2013 April 3 - 9 [POLITICS]

Second-generation Hibakusha lawmaker calls for nuclear-armed Japan

A Japan Restoration Party parliamentarian, who is a second generation Hibakusha, on April 8 said that the government should consider Japan’s nuclear armament.

JRP member of the House of Representatives Nakamaru Hiromu at a House Budget Committee meeting said, “When Japan faces threats from China and North Korea, it is reasonable for the nation to discuss nuclear armament and the possibility of possessing such arms.”

The idea of seeking a nuclear-armed Japan has been repeatedly raised by JRP co-head Ishihara Shintaro.

Ishihara in an interview with Asahi Shimbun on April 4 said, “Japan should become a nation with a strong military capability. To seriously discuss possessing nuclear weapons is one of the options for the future of Japan.”

In November 2012, Ishihara in his speech at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club said, “Japan should at least carry out simulations of nuclear weapons tests. That will provide a strong deterrence.”

The JRP politicians’ remarks trample on the aspirations of Hibakusha and the rest of the citizens of the only atom-bombed country to achieve the abolition of nuclear weapons.


Related past article:
> Shii criticizes Ishihara’s remarks on nuclear weapons [November 21 & 22, 2012]