Hiro-bomb survivors rally in Nagasaki to urge Japan to sign treaty

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Hiro-bomb survivors rally in Nagasaki to urge Japan to sign treaty

Standing in front of the symbolic Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima, 10 or so members of a Hiroshima-based group called for the abolition of nuclear weapons hoisted a banner that read: "The whole world should join the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons." If Japan, the only country in the world to have been ravaged by atomic bombing, speaks out in the international community, it will be impossible to eliminate nuclear weapons, said Shuichi Adachi, a lawyer representing the group.

As a safety precaution against the COVID-19 pandemic, participation in the rally was kept to a minimum.

Tomoyuki Mimaki, a representative of the association of A- and H-bomb sufferers in Hiroshima Prefecture, expressed disappointment with a joint statement released Jan. 21 by Tokyo and Washington on the issue of nuclear weapons.

They treated the question with kid gloves, noting that although the statement encouraged the world s political leaders and youth to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it made no reference to the treaty.

Mimaki, 72, said he sent a letter to prime minister Fumio Kishida, who is from a constituency in Hiroshima, urging Japanese representatives to attend the first meeting of signatory countries of the treaty in Austria in March.

He said that attendance on the part of Japan is essential as Kishida pledges that Tokyo will work as an intermediary between the nuclear and non-nuclear powers.

Nearly 150 nuclear-bomb survivors and their supporters gathered in the Peace Park in Nagasaki to press the Japanese government to join and ratify the treaty.

Shigemitsu Tanaka, president of the Nagasaki Atomic-bomb Survivors Council, said the government continues to ignore the treaty even though many countries have signed it. We want to get the public familiar with the treaty so we can join forces in applying pressure on the government. Fifty-nine countries and territories have ratified the treaty.

Nuclear powers as well as Japan, which is protected under the U.S. nuclear umbrella for its defense purposes, have refrained from doing so.

According to the Japan Council against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs, 627 assemblies, or 35 percent, of the 1,788 local governments, including those at the prefectural level, had adopted a resolution as of January 12 calling for the Japanese government to sign and ratify the treaty.

The number included 90 or so local governments that adopted the resolution after the treaty went into effect in 2021.

Shiro Maekawa, an official of the council who tracks the trend among local governments, said the resolution adopted by local governments reflects public opinion and makes it more visible. The Japanese government should listen to what the public says.