On April 6, peace activists in Akita Prefecture held their 200th monthly march calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons.
This action, started 16 years and 8 months ago by the Akita Prefectural Association for Non-Nuclear Government, has been carried out at lunchtime of the 6th of every month, to remember August 6, the day when the atomic-bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.
More than 20 participants in this 200th action put up placards and marched through the shopping district, calling for nuclear weapons to be abolished. They also demanded that F16 nuclear-capable fighter jets be removed from the U.S. Misawa Base in Aomori, the neighboring prefecture.
Using a bull-horn, march organizer Kobayashi Yasuo appealed to residents, "The U.S. used depleted uranium shells in its wars of aggression on Iraq. It is unforgivable of the Japanese government to send Self-Defense Force units to radiation-contaminated areas in Iraq without any protective gear." (end)
