Hiroshima and Nagasaki mayors send joint message of protest calling ‘creation of third area destroyed by nuclear weapons in warfare unacceptable’
Mar. 1, 2022
by Junji Akechi and Fumiyasu Miyano, Staff Writers
On February 28, Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui and Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue joined to send a letter of protest regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has recently hinted at the possibility of nuclear weapons use. In the letter, the mayors argued that the creation of a third area of the world destroyed by nuclear weapons in warfare would be entirely unacceptable and called on Mr. Putin to immediately end the act of aggression.
The letter of protest was sent to the Russian Embassy in Japan via both fax and regular mail. The missive criticized Mr. Putin “for his trampling on the earnest wishes held by the A-bomb survivors that nobody else should ever live through what they experienced and causing the citizens of the A-bombed cities to feel harsh resentment.” In a press conference, Mr. Matsui said, “Mr. Putin’s threats could very well lead to the same kind of catastrophe that happened in Hiroshima. I want him to be fully aware of the consequences that could result from his embrace of nuclear weapons as a deterrent.”
Touching on former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s recent mention of the idea of “nuclear sharing” with the United States, Mr. Matsui, referring to the current Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s statement made in response to a line of questioning in Japan’s parliamentary body, the Diet, in which he clearly stated that the three non-nuclear principles were a national policy of Japan and that the nation “does not have the option of using or possessing nuclear weapons,” demanded that “the national government should handle the situation in accordance with the current prime minister’s comments.”
On the same day, Hiroshima Prefectural Governor Hidehiko Yuzaki also sent a written letter of protest to the Russian Embassy in Japan addressed to Mr. Putin. Mr. Yuzaki called out, as an extremely inappropriate threat, Mr. Putin’s order to put the country’s nuclear forces on high alert. The governor called for the halt of the Russian military invasion of Ukraine as well as a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
(Originally published on March 1, 2022)
On February 28, Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui and Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue joined to send a letter of protest regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has recently hinted at the possibility of nuclear weapons use. In the letter, the mayors argued that the creation of a third area of the world destroyed by nuclear weapons in warfare would be entirely unacceptable and called on Mr. Putin to immediately end the act of aggression.
The letter of protest was sent to the Russian Embassy in Japan via both fax and regular mail. The missive criticized Mr. Putin “for his trampling on the earnest wishes held by the A-bomb survivors that nobody else should ever live through what they experienced and causing the citizens of the A-bombed cities to feel harsh resentment.” In a press conference, Mr. Matsui said, “Mr. Putin’s threats could very well lead to the same kind of catastrophe that happened in Hiroshima. I want him to be fully aware of the consequences that could result from his embrace of nuclear weapons as a deterrent.”
Touching on former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s recent mention of the idea of “nuclear sharing” with the United States, Mr. Matsui, referring to the current Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s statement made in response to a line of questioning in Japan’s parliamentary body, the Diet, in which he clearly stated that the three non-nuclear principles were a national policy of Japan and that the nation “does not have the option of using or possessing nuclear weapons,” demanded that “the national government should handle the situation in accordance with the current prime minister’s comments.”
On the same day, Hiroshima Prefectural Governor Hidehiko Yuzaki also sent a written letter of protest to the Russian Embassy in Japan addressed to Mr. Putin. Mr. Yuzaki called out, as an extremely inappropriate threat, Mr. Putin’s order to put the country’s nuclear forces on high alert. The governor called for the halt of the Russian military invasion of Ukraine as well as a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
(Originally published on March 1, 2022)
