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New chairman chosen for Japanese Parliamentary Association for Promotion of International Disarmament

by Kohei Okata, Staff Writer

On April 20, the general meeting of the Japanese Parliamentary Association for the Promotion of International Disarmament, comprised of lawmakers from various parties, was held at the Diet building and Takahiro Yokomichi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, was formally chosen as the new chairman. Mr. Yokomichi, along with Yohei Kono, the former chairman of the association and the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, encouraged the Diet members of the A-bombed nation to rise to the occasion in pursuit of the elimination of nuclear weapons.

About 20 members attended the general meeting. Mr. Yokomichi introduced the process of holding the G8 Summit of Lower House Speakers in Hiroshima in 2008 through the efforts of Mr. Kono and others. "The Diet should carry out more activities that will draw as much attention as possible to Hiroshima and Nagasaki," Mr. Yokomichi appealed to his colleagues.

Mr. Kono pointed out that Japan should take the initiative in shaping international public opinion which offers encouragement to U.S. President Barack Obama, who has been advocating "a world without nuclear weapons." He called on the Japanese Parliamentary Association for the Promotion of International Disarmament to serve as a forerunner in the field.

The Japanese Parliamentary Association for the Promotion of International Disarmament now has 48 members. After Mr. Kono retired from politics last year, Mr. Yokomichi was appointed to assume Mr. Kono's place as chairman. Yoshitaka Murata, a member of the Liberal Democratic Party from the Chugoku bloc under the proportional representation system, took the post of secretary-general and Hideo Hiraoka, a member of the Democratic Party of Japan from Yamaguchi's second constituency, took the post of acting secretary-general of the association.

(Originally published on April 21, 2010)

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