Time to act without religious boundaries

About 120 Buddhists, Christians, and Muslims on March 1 held an assembly in a temple in Tokyo to resolve to do all they can in opposition to a war on Iraq.

In Otsu City in Shiga Prefecture on the same day, a major Buddhist sect held a conference and adopted a unanimous resolution calling on Japan, the only A-bombed country, to firmly oppose a war on Iraq and take a lead in supporting the worldwide anti-war movement.

Public figures discuss peace

At the call of Japan's prominent figures demanding a peaceful resolution of the Iraq question, 120 people attended a speech assembly in Tokyo on March 1. Speakers included journalist Yazaki Yasuhisa, writer Sawachi Hisae, Oshima Koich of the Christian Political League, writer Nakayama Chinatsu, Yamaguchi Yukio of the Citizens' Nuclear Information Center, critic Sataka Makoto, and Otsu Ken'ichi of the Nippon Christian Conference. They also discussed with the audience ways to avoid a war, criticizing the Japanese government for being the U.S. yes-man and the Japanese news media for being uncritical about such a government's attitude.

6,000 people form human letters in Hiroshima

On March 2, about 6,000 people in Hiroshima formed human letters, spelling "NO WAR, NO DU (depleted uranium)" to express opposition to a U.S. war against Iraq. The aerial photo of the human letters will be in major U.S. newspapers as an opinion ad. Hiroshima City Mayor Akiba Tadatoshi was present at the event.

On the same day in Fukuoka City, about 6,000 people including young people, union workers, medical workers, and farmers participated in a rally against a war on Iraq. Ozawa Kazuaki, Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Representatives, and Nihi Sohei, JCP candidate in the proportional representation Kyushu-Okinawa district spoke in solidarity at the rally.

In Kawasaki City (Kanagawa) and in Kobe City (Hyogo), young people under a banner of the Democratic Youth League of Japan carried out peace marches on March 2. (end)