A-bomb survivors group Nobel win spurs debate in Japan election

As official campaigning for Japan's general election began earlier this week, debate over the possibility of the country joining a nuclear weapons ban treaty has revived after an atomic bomb survivors group won the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize.

Nihon Hidankyo received the Nobel honor last week. Since then, some opposition parties have urged the government to participate in the pact, while Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has softened his language on the issue ahead of the Oct 27 election.

Ishiba has congratulated Hidankyo but has faced criticism from the group's members for remarks made during the ruling Liberal Democratic Party leadership race in September, suggesting that Japan could consider nuclear sharing.

Recently, Ishiba's tone has shifted amid euphoria over the group's win and growing calls to commit to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. He said he has "no intention of ignoring and will seriously take into account" the demand.

The treaty went into force in 2021, but Japan has not joined it, despite its experience of atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, as the nation has questioned the pact's effectiveness, given that no nuclear-armed states have signed on.

Yoshihiko Noda, leader of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, has challenged Ishiba, saying after the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Hidankyo that Japan "must at least be an observer" at the next conference regarding the treaty.

The LDP's junior coalition partner, the Komeito party, pledges in its election platform to make progress toward ratifying the treaty, with its leader, Keiichi Ishii, arguing that Japan has a "responsibility" to communicate the reality of nuclear bombings.

While atomic bomb survivors have hoped for recognition of the ban pact since its establishment, Japan has supported the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Nuclear powers, including the United States, have backed it.

© KYODO