 Gensuikyo takes to the streets to collects 'Abolish Nuclear Weapons Now' signatures The Japan Council against A & H Bombs (Japan Gensuikyo) carried out the monthly "6th and 9th Day Action" in Tokyo's Ueno Park and called on passers-by to show their support for the abolition of nuclear weapons and relief for A-bomb survivors (Hibakusha) on October 6. In the one-hour action, participants collected 200 signatures in support of the "Abolition Nuclear Weapons Now!" campaign, launched at the 2004 World Conference against A & H Bombs in August as the main action in preparation for the 60th anniversary of the A-bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the NPT Review Conference next year. A 79-year-old woman signed a campaign sheet, saying, "The war deprived me of my youth. I wanted to walk hand in hand with a boy as present young people do. Wars always leave the same tragedy." High school students on a school excursion from Hiroshima Prefecture wrote "No war!" on a 5-meter banner in their dialect. Tourists from Germany, France, and Georgia also wrote their wishes for peace on the banner in their own languages. A college student said, "If I hadn't walked by here today, I may have forgotten about the tragedy of the A-bombs." The "6th and 9th Day Action" is conducted throughout the country to remember the A-bombing of Hiroshima on August 6th and Nagasaki on August 9th in 1945. (end) |