Japan PM Attends Hiroshima Rally to Mark Atomic Bombing Anniversary

Text of report in English by Japanese news agency Kyodo

Hiroshima, Aug. 6 Kyodo – Citizens of Hiroshima and peace wishers from across Japan and abroad observed a minute of silence at 8:15 a.m. Monday to mark the 62nd anniversary of the US atomic bombing on Hiroshima towards the end of World War II.

Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba warned that proliferation of nuclear arms is gaining momentum because a “handful of old- fashioned leaders…are…turning their backs on the reality of the atomic bombings and the message of the hibakusha.”

This year’s memorial has been overshadowed by events such as then Defence Minister Fumio Kyuma’s remark in late June that the atomic bombing of Japan was a thing that “could not be helped,” and the slaying in April of then Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Ito.

Meanwhile, the legal battle continues between hibakusha and the government over recognition of their illnesses as caused by the atomic bombing, and the anniversary follows the crushing defeat of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party in the House of Councillors election in late July.

In light of public worries that Japan might amend the war- renouncing Constitution to strengthen its alliance with the United States, Akiba urged the government in his Peace Declaration presented at the memorial ceremony to “protect, as is, the Peace Constitution, while clearly saying ‘No,’ to obsolete and mistaken US policies.”

Abe, who attended the ceremony for the first time as prime minister, pledged to abide by the Constitution and to maintain the government’s nonnuclear principles, but told reporters afterward he wants to extend Japan’s sea-based refueling support for the US-led military campaign in Afghanistan beyond its Nov. 1 deadline.

Akiba said the government “is duty-bound” to learn and spread to the world the philosophy of the hibakusha and the facts of the A- bombings, and also said it “should take pride in and protect” the pacifist Constitution to press for a nuclear-free world.

The mayor said earlier he decided to make such requests to the government because Kyuma caused an uproar – which forced him to resign – by his remarks about the atomic bombing.

Abe said in his address, “In front of the spirits of the victims and the people of Hiroshima, I further strengthened my resolve that we should never see the tragedy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki recur.”

“I pledge afresh that I will continue to abide by provisions of the Constitution, honestly aspire for international peace and firmly maintain the three nonnuclear principles” of Japan of not possessing, not producing and not allowing nuclear arms into its territory, he said.

Some 40,000 people took part in the 45-minute ceremony hosted by the Hiroshima city government, including diplomats from 42 countries, which was the largest-ever in number.

Also among the participants was Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue, who in April succeeded Ito, who was shot dead by a gangster during his reelection campaign.

Despite Abe’s pledge, Taue reiterated to reporters, “There was an instance in which the government’s three nonnuclear principles appeared to be shaking, but as a Nagasaki citizen I want the prime minister to take firm leadership towards nuclear abolition.”

Akiba, in offering prayers for the A-bomb victims, referred to Ito as one “shot down on his way towards nuclear weapons abolition.”

The atomic bombing of Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, had killed an estimated 140,000 people by the end of 1945, and a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on Aug. 9, causing another 70,000 deaths. Japan surrendered six days later, bringing an end to the war.

Prior to the minute of silence observed at 8:15 a.m., two books were placed in the cenotaph at the Peace Memorial Park listing 5,221 new names as dead to date, bringing the death toll from the city’s bombing to 253,008.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said in a message read out by his proxy, High Representative for Disarmament Sergio de Queiroz Duarte, “We must do all we can to turn back the tide of nuclear proliferation.”

Even before the official ceremony began at 8 a.m., people visited monuments in the Peace Memorial Park, some in the predawn hours.

“It settles my feelings, coming here around this time every year,” said Tadashi Takeoka, 68, a local restaurant owner whose grandparents perished in the bombing. He recalled the “dire scenes” he witnessed while going to look for them with his mother.

Kazuko Miura, 74, said she has taken a night train on Aug. 5 every year from her home in Chiba Prefecture to visit Hiroshima during the past decade to offer her prayers to her mother who died Aug. 19, 1945, of radiation sickness, when Miura was 11.

“I hope to continue coming here as long as my life allows,” said Miura, who escaped the explosion as she had been evacuated during the war.

Masayo Imai, a 20-year-old university student from Tokyo, said she came to confirm her resolve to try to preserve Japan’s pacifist Constitution, given political discussions about amending it.

Abe, in a hastily arranged meeting Sunday in Hiroshima with seven local hibakusha groups, pledged to review the government’s contentious screening of the victims, and apologized for Kyuma’s controversial remarks.

Health, Labour and Welfare Minister Hakuo Yanagisawa told a press conference after the ceremony Monday that his ministry will set up an expert panel “as quickly as possible” in compliance with Abe’s instruction, following six court rulings in favour of ailing hibakusha who want their illnesses recognized by the state as caused by radiation.

But Abe on Monday again separated the matter from the question of whether the government will appeal the latest ruling July 30 by the Kumamoto District Court, despite the wishes of the hibakusha that it not appeal, ahead of the Aug. 13 deadline for filing an appeal.

Attending the ceremony was Keizo Jin, a 77-year-old hibakusha from California who was visiting Hiroshima for the first time since he was exposed to the atomic-bombing 62 years ago and moved to Tokyo in 1948, before crossing the Pacific in 1961.

He expressed hope, referring to Abe’s offers Sunday to hibakusha, that Japan will improve its assistance for hibakusha overseas.

A total of 251,834 hibakusha, as certified under Japanese law, were alive in Japan and abroad as of March 31, with their ages averaging 74.6.

Of them, 2,242 have had their illnesses recognized as caused by radiation from the atomic bombings, according to Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry data.

Peace rallies were organized separately Monday in Hiroshima by two major antinuclear groups – the Japan Congress Against A-and H- Bombs, or Gensuikin, and the Japan Council against Atomic and Hydrogen Bomb, or Gensuikyo.

Also, various local groups plan to float lanterns on a river adjacent to the peace park in the evening.

(c) 2007 BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.