Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui has urged Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba to decide on Japan's participation as an observer at a meeting in March of signatories to the U.N. nuclear ban treaty.
During their meeting at the prime minister's office, Ishiba remained elusive, quoted by Matsui as saying that "various discussions are necessary" on what the country's approach should be.
Japan is the only country to have experienced the devastation caused by atomic bombs -- one dropped by the United States on Hiroshima and the other on Nagasaki in the final days of World War II. It has long relied on the U.S. nuclear umbrella and is not a member of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which entered into force in 2021.
Matsui made the call, representing a nongovernmental group consisting of heads of municipalities in Japan and abroad pressing to rid the world of nuclear weapons. Nagasaki Mayor Shiro Suzuki also attended the meeting.
The group said in a letter handed to Ishiba that the winning of the Nobel Peace Prize by Nihon Hidankyo, Japan's leading group of atomic bomb survivors, sent out the message that the use of nuclear weapons should never be tolerated.
They urged Japan to sign the nuclear ban treaty to realize a world free of such weapons as soon as possible.
While sharing the need to rid the world of them, Ishiba has been noncommittal. When he met with Hidankyo members on Jan. 8, he did not clearly respond to their demand for Japan's participation in the upcoming meeting in New York in March.
The group, known as the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for its work toward a nuclear-free world.
© KYODO
8 Comments
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Geeter Mckluskie
When Russia, China and North Korea relinquish their nuclear weapons, and not until.
JJE
The ruling class like playing the victim when it suits them, but they are ruthless hypocrites.
smithinjapan
It'll be interesting to watch Ishiba start off what everything starts off about Hiroshima/nuclear weapons in Japan as, "As the only nation to suffer the horrendous attack of nuclear weapons..." and finish it with, "...we cannot sign this ban."
OssanAmerica
It's not hypocrisy at all.
Mayor is thinking in terms of his small world. He's not wrong. A non-nuclear world would be wonderful.
But the PM must prioritize protecting the whole country. Hence the US nuclear umbrella.
Besides, what good is a non-nuclear world where the nations that openly talk about using them aren't participants?
deanzaZZR
When the USA, the only nation to use nuclear weapons on civilians relinquish their nuclear weapons, and not until.
It is so interesting how facts get turned on their head but MIC and their spokespeople.
Agent_Neo
From Japan's perspective, the abolition of nuclear weapons in anti-Japanese countries such as China, Russia, and North Korea would come first, rather than that of our ally, the United States.
This is because they are less trustworthy than the Americans, who dropped nuclear weapons on Japan.
And if necessary, Japan's nuclear armament is also an option that cannot be abandoned.
OssanAmerica
The U.S. will never relinquish their nuclear weapons unless there is no need for them. And the only way that can ever happen is if the autocratic dictatorships who talk about using them as a threat relinquish their nuclear weapons.
In fact, it is the very existence of the American nuclear arsenal in the hands of the largest and most powerful military in the world that keeps these autocratic nations simply "threatening" and not "using".
smithinjapan
OssanAmerica: "Besides, what good is a non-nuclear world where the nations that openly talk about using them aren't participants?”
You're right, Japan's ethics and morals should once again take a backseat and bend over for the US. Imagine standing behind your morals! Imagine not trying to play both sides! Imagine if you had mirrors to look in when you said Japan has suffered so much, so you SUPPORT the existence of such weapons while the hibakusha go and get their Nobel Prize, which you tout on their behalf.