Japan Press Weekly

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2023 January 18 - 24 [PEACE]

36% of all local assemblies in Japan call for Japan's ratification of TPNW

Two years have passed since the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) came into force. As of January 22, 648 of all 1,788 local assemblies in Japan, accounting for more than 36% of the total, have adopted a statement of opinion calling on the Japanese government to sign and ratify the UN treaty.

According to the Japan Council against A & H Bombs (Japan Gensuikyo), all prefectural, city, town, and village assemblies in Iwate Prefecture, and over 70% of all assemblies in Akita, Niigata, Nagano, Okayama, and Hiroshima prefectures adopted a resolution to the same effect.

The Tokushima City Assembly in its statement approved on September 20 last year criticized Russia's nuclear threats for undermining the global effort and momentum to eliminate nuclear weapons, and demanded that Japan participate in the TPNW without delay in order to internationally cope with an impending nuclear crisis.

The Minami Awaji City Assembly in Hyogo Prefecture passed a similar resolution on September 29 last year. The resolution states, "The international community is facing the danger of a nuclear war. Now is the time for the government of Japan, the only country in the world that experienced atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to take a lead in increasing international public opinion calling for a total ban on nuclear weapons."

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On the occasion of the 2nd anniversary of the entry into force of the UN treaty,
demonstrations using social media, including Twitter, as well as signature-collection actions and rallies took place at many locations throughout the country, calling on Japan to join the TPNW.

On January 22 near Shinjuku Station in Tokyo, Japan Gensuikyo and A-bomb survivors (Hibakusha) living in Tokyo, including 93-year-old woman, took part in a signature-collection rally.

Hamasumi Jiro, antenatal Hibakusha, pointed out that to accept the need for a "nuclear umbrella" is the same as accepting nuclear weapons as a necessary evil. He said, "We must never allow a war from occurring. The prohibition and abolition of nuclear weapons is a task for all mankind."

Four Hibakusha organizations in Nagasaki Prefecture on January 22 organized a rally in Nagasaki Peace Park in Nagasaki City. Nagasaki Hibakusha Tanaka Shigemitsu denounced the Kishida government for going headlong into military expansion in disregard of the Japanese Constitution. He said, "Let us make Japan the last place to be victimized by nuclear bombs!"