May 8, 2013
A nationwide anti-nuclear weapons march on May 6 departed from Tokyo for Hiroshima where the World Conference against A & H Bombs will take place in August. Around 1,200 people took part on the first day of the three-month march.
The march has eleven main routes covering all 47 prefectures in Japan. Participants in four of the courses will arrive in Tokyo on July 25, four in Hiroshima on August 4, and three in Nagasaki on August 6.
On the same day, marchers on the Hokkaido-Tokyo route also started from Rebun Island in Northern Hokkaido.
Before starting, participants of the Tokyo-Hiroshima march held a rally in a Tokyo park. Representatives of peace organizations, hibakusha, and youth groups made speeches.
Vice Chair of the Tokyo Federation of A- & H-Bombs Sufferers’ Organizations (Tokyo Hidankyo) Yamamoto Hidenori said to the participants, “Most of the A-bomb survivors are in their 80s and still fighting with us because nuclear weapons still exist in the world. Let’s arouse strong public opinion against nuclear weapons through the peace march.”
The peace march was called for by the Organizing Committee of the World Conference against A & H Bombs in 1958 and the march has been held every year since then.
The march has eleven main routes covering all 47 prefectures in Japan. Participants in four of the courses will arrive in Tokyo on July 25, four in Hiroshima on August 4, and three in Nagasaki on August 6.
On the same day, marchers on the Hokkaido-Tokyo route also started from Rebun Island in Northern Hokkaido.
Before starting, participants of the Tokyo-Hiroshima march held a rally in a Tokyo park. Representatives of peace organizations, hibakusha, and youth groups made speeches.
Vice Chair of the Tokyo Federation of A- & H-Bombs Sufferers’ Organizations (Tokyo Hidankyo) Yamamoto Hidenori said to the participants, “Most of the A-bomb survivors are in their 80s and still fighting with us because nuclear weapons still exist in the world. Let’s arouse strong public opinion against nuclear weapons through the peace march.”
The peace march was called for by the Organizing Committee of the World Conference against A & H Bombs in 1958 and the march has been held every year since then.
