Japan Council against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs to send 4 million signatures seeking nuclear abolition to New York
Mar. 18, 2010
by Kohei Okata, Staff Writer
On March 16, a meeting was held in Tokyo in connection with a signature-collection drive led by the Japan Council against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs in pursuit of "a world without nuclear weapons." At the end of this month, the signatures of roughly 4 million people will be sent by ship to New York City, where the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference will be held.
Hiroshi Takakusaki, general secretary of the council, reported that the number of signatures has reached 5.43 million, exceeding the number of signatures for the NPT Review Conference five years ago. Mr. Takakusaki called on the participants to collect a total of 12 million signatures by May 28, the last day of the NPT Review Conference. Additional signatures will be brought directly to the conference by the delegation.
At the venue of the meeting, 152 cardboard boxes with sheets of paper bearing the signatures were piled high. Yuko Orihara, 18, who has just graduated from high school in Saitama Prefecture and will take part in a peace event in New York immediately prior to the NPT Review Conference, remarked, "With these signatures, which are filled with hopes for peace, I want to make the appeal that we can abolish nuclear weapons."
(Originally published on March 17, 2010)
On March 16, a meeting was held in Tokyo in connection with a signature-collection drive led by the Japan Council against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs in pursuit of "a world without nuclear weapons." At the end of this month, the signatures of roughly 4 million people will be sent by ship to New York City, where the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference will be held.
Hiroshi Takakusaki, general secretary of the council, reported that the number of signatures has reached 5.43 million, exceeding the number of signatures for the NPT Review Conference five years ago. Mr. Takakusaki called on the participants to collect a total of 12 million signatures by May 28, the last day of the NPT Review Conference. Additional signatures will be brought directly to the conference by the delegation.
At the venue of the meeting, 152 cardboard boxes with sheets of paper bearing the signatures were piled high. Yuko Orihara, 18, who has just graduated from high school in Saitama Prefecture and will take part in a peace event in New York immediately prior to the NPT Review Conference, remarked, "With these signatures, which are filled with hopes for peace, I want to make the appeal that we can abolish nuclear weapons."
(Originally published on March 17, 2010)
