Joint Presentation of 3 Million+ Signatures Urging Japan to Join the TPNW
Ellen Thomas
3,449,012 Signatures Collected and Jointly Presented to Government
Urging Japan to Join the TPNW
Japan Council against A and H Bombs (Gensuikyo)
On November 21, responding to the call of Nihon Hidankyo, the
joint presentation of signatures on the petition: “We Call on the
Government of Japan, the Only A-bombed Country in Wartime, to Sign
and Ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons” was
held in Tokyo. This was the first joint action where Hidankyo
(Japan Confederation of A-and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations),
Gensuikyo (Japan Council against A and H Bombs) and Gensuikin
(Japan Congress Against A and H Bombs) coordinated, since the
three organizations issued a joint appeal on July 23: “On the
Occasion of the 80th Anniversary of the Atomic Bombing: We Call
for Nationwide Efforts to Inherit and Spread the Reality and
Experiences of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.”
With over 300 participants, including 100 Hidankyo members,
representatives of many organizations working together in the
signature campaign and political party leaders and
parliamentarians, the venue was standing-room-only. The number of
signatures on the petition has now reached 3,449,012. In front of
the stack of boxes on the stage filled with signed petitions,
these representatives directly handed a bundle of petitions one
after another to a deputy director of Foreign Ministry, who
received the signatures on behalf of the Government of Japan.
Tanaka Terumi, Co-Chair of Nihon Hidankyo stated, “Prime Minister
Takaichi’s remarks about revising the Three Non-Nuclear Principles
(State official policy of not producing, possessing or allowing
nuclear arms brought into Japan) are an extremely serious matter.”
Secretary-General Hamasumi Jiro of Hidankyo appealed, “The
Hibakusha cannot accept the Japanese government entrusting
national security to the United States and failing to sign or
ratify the TPNW.”
Tani Masashi, Secretary General of Gensuikin appealed, “To protect
our safety, nuclear weapons must be eliminated without delay. We
urge the government to sign and ratify the TPNW as a starting
point for building our secure future.”
Yasui Masakazu, Gensuikyo's Secretary General, pledged to broaden
the signature campaign, stating, “If they say ‘Japan’s security
environment is becoming more severe,’ then banning nuclear weapons
is all the more necessary. Any attempt to revise the Three
Non-Nuclear Principles is absolutely unacceptable.”
Following the rally, a demonstration urging the Japanese
government to join the TPNW was held in front of the National Diet
building that same evening. Approximately 700 people raised
placards reading “#StandWithHibakusha” and voiced their demands
for the abolition of nuclear weapons and the upholding of Japan’s
Three Non-Nuclear Principles.
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Japan Council against A and H Bombs (Gensuikyo)
Tel: +81-3-5842-6034 Fax: +81-3-5842-6033
Email: anti...@topaz.plala.or.jp
Heiwa-to-Rodo-Center 6F, 2-4-4, Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo
113-8464 JAPAN