Nagasaki mayor calls for local protests against India

NAGASAKI, May 16 Kyodo - Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Ito on Saturday asked other Japanese municipal governments supporting nonnuclear principles to actively protest against India's nuclear tests. ''If every local government faxes a one-page message of protest to India, it will have a great impact on the country,'' Ito said, stressing that Japan is the only country to have experienced atomic bombings. Among the 2,279 local governments which had declared their nonnuclear principles by the end of 1997, few have taken any action against India, according to Nagasaki city officials. Nagasaki hopes to cooperate with other local governments in protest activities by sharing information about nuclear tests. Ito also said Saturday that he sent letters to Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto and Foreign Minister Keizo Obuchi in January asking the government to clearly apologize to Asian nations for Japanese aggression during World War II. The letter pointed out the distrust of Asian people toward postwar Japanese government policies and urged the government to deal sincerely with foreigners who had suffered inhumane treatment at the hands of the Japanese during the war.