Mothers always are aware how invaluable lives are -- 47th Japan Mothers' Congress

More than 20,000 mothers and prospective mothers participated in the
47th Japan Mothers' Congress held near Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture on
August 25 and 26.

The Congress declaration adopted at the end of the plenary session
stated: "We are making a new beginning towards creating a new Mothers'
Movement. This is our "Pledge of Lake Biwa" to achieve further progress in
the cause of human rights, women's equality, peace, and democracy in 21st century Japan."

The two sides of the stage, where the plenary session was held, were
decorated with banners, large and small, filled with slogans such as "Let
the Constitution shine!," "Hand down our planet blue and without nuclear
weapons or military bases to our children."

Workshop discussions were organized on more than 50 topics, ranging from child care to human development, understanding adolescence, cultural influences on children, women's equality, the pension system, environmental protection, war and peace, human rights, and grassroots movements.

Addressing the plenary session, Congress Organizing Committee Chair
Kimura Yasuko said,"We are mothers of the only atom-bombed country in the world. Let us defend the Constitution's Article 9, always bearing in mind how priceless life is.

Kato Shuichi, a well-known critic, was one of the main guest speakers,
and attracted an audience of more than 1,000. His speech focused on "the right to live" as the most important part of human rights. He described war as the largest form of sweeping and systematic killing, and criticized those who make war by justifying it as means of achieving peace.

Author Inoue Hisash spoke on how to allow the Constitution to play its
part in the 21st century, for love and peace. He stressed that women's
power and wisdom is necessary for solving many problems created in the last century. He added that the Mothers Congress is a place to design hope during hard times and protect the global environment."

Participants were also moved by Terada Masumi, the mother of Terada
Yusuke, fisheries high school student who has been missing off Hawaii since the training ship Ehime Maru was hit and sunken by a U.S. nuclear-submarine last February. She said all she wants to do now is meet her son and know the truth of the tragedy.

The first Japan Mothers' Congress was held in June 1955 in the course of
the development of the Movement against A & H Bombs that followed the
tragedy at Bikini Atoll in which a Japanese tuna fishing boat was showered
with fallout from a U.S. hydrogen bomb test explosion on March 1, 1954.
Japanese women expressed their strong desire to protect children against
nuclear war in the first Mothers' Congress. (end)