Japan Press Weekly

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2015 January 7 - 13 [PEACE]

Hibakusha determined to have nukes abolished in 70th year since A-bombings

Seeking to realize a total ban on nuclear weapons in this year marking the 70th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Hibakusha (A-bomb survivors) on January 6 conducted this year’s first monthly “6th and 9th day of action” to collect signatures calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons. Signatures collected in Japan will be submitted to the United Nations on the occasion of the NPT Review Conference in April.

In Tokyo, members of the Japan Council against A and H Bombs (Japan Gensuikyo) and a Tokyo Hibakusha group, the Tokyo Federation of A-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Toyukai), held a street campaign to gather signatures in Asakusa, one of Tokyo’s major sightseeing spots. Representing various organizations, such as trade unions and women’s groups, 30 people took part in this action.

Participants in the action called on passers-by and foreign tourists to sign a petition calling for the total elimination of nuclear weapons.

Using a microphone, Toyukai representative Oiwa Kohei, who survived the A-bombing of Hiroshima, said that he saw many A-bomb victims dying in front of him. “I’m anxious to see a world with no nuclear weapons,” he added.

Yamamoto Hidenori, Hibakusha and vice secretary general of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-bomb Sufferers Organizations (Hidankyo), said, “Hibakusha have been suffering in mind and body for 70 years. Use of those brutal weapons should never be allowed. People’s signatures calling for a nuclear-free world are needed to change the world.”

A senior high school girl who signed the petition said, “When I visited Hiroshima on a school trip, I heard the stories of Hibakusha. I hope these cruel weapons will be vanished without delay.”

In Hiroshima, prefectural branches of Gensuikyo and Hidankyo also carried out the monthly anti-nuclear weapons action.