May 7, 2021
A three-month-long nationwide antinuke Peace March bound for Hiroshima and Nagasaki started on May 6 ahead of the 2021 World Conference against A and H Bombs slated for August.
Marchers, during the first peace walk after the entry into force of the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), seek to increase public opinion calling on the Japanese government to sign and ratify the TPNW.
In Tokyo, the point of departure of the Tokyo-Hiroshima route, a "walking" march was cancelled due to the COVID-19 state of emergency in Tokyo. Instead, sound trucks and campaign vans were driven in procession on the roads.
A kick-off rally was held online incorporating the museum of the Daigo Fukuryu Maru, a Japanese fishing boat showered with radioactive fallout from a U.S. H-bomb test explosion at the Bikini Atoll in 1954.
Taka Hiroshi, co-representative of the Steering Committee of the Organizing Committee of the World Conference against A and H Bombs, said in his opening address, "The abolition of nuclear weapons is not just a dream or an ideal but a feasible reality shared by the world. It is important for the government of Japan, the only atomic-bombed country in the world, to join the TPNW."
Yasuda Kazuya, secretary-general of the Daigo Fukuryu Maru Peace Association, gave a speech in solidarity, saying that he will work to pass the peace message of ex-crewmember of the Daigo Fukuryu Maru Oishi Matashichi, who passed away in March, on to younger generations.
Wada Masako, deputy secretary-general of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo), pointed out, "Longstanding peace movements have prevented nuclear weapons from being used and have protected the earth and mankind from the associated catastrophic consequences." She called on peace marchers to increase the call even more for Japan's participation in the TPNW.
Past related article:
> 2020 antinuke Peace March starts under banner, ‘Importance of people’s lives far outweighs nuclear weapons!’ [May 8, 2020]
