May 2, 2026

Four organizations, including an A-bomb survivors’ group, currently visiting New York City for the NPT Review Conference, visited the Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations to demand that Japan take the lead in the global effort to abolish nuclear weapons.

Yasui Masakazu, secretary general of the Japan Council against A and H Bombs (Japan Gensuikyo), pointed out that nuclear-weapon-possessing states, such as the United States, are threatening non-nuclear-weapon states with nuclear weapons. He added that this could undermine the non-proliferation regime.

Matsuura Hideto, a representative director of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo), criticized the notion of “extended deterrence” as “an illusion and a mistake”. He demanded that the Japanese government promptly sign and ratify the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).

However, Japan’s ambassador to the United Nations, Umetsu Shigeru, refused to join the treaty by stating that Japan’s fundamental security policy relies on “extended deterrence” and that U.S. nuclear weapons are necessary to counter China.

The four organizations are Japan Gensuikyo, the Japan Congress against A- and H-Bombs (Japan Gensuikin), Nihon Hindakyo, and the Japanese Consumers’ Co-operative Union.