Setsuko Thurlow attends Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony, says “Concrete plan for nuclear abolition not in evidence”
Aug. 7, 2023
by Michiko Tanaka, Staff Writer
Setsuko Thurlow, 91, an A-bomb survivor who is now a resident of Canada, attended the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony and later expressed disappointment about the remarks made by Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, elected from the A-bombed Hiroshima. “Neither his strong desire for the elimination of nuclear weapons nor a concrete plan for that goal was evident in his statement.” Ms. Thurlow asserted that civil society needed to urge the government to move away from its policy of reliance on nuclear deterrence.
After the ceremony concluded, Ms. Thurlow held a press conference in Hiroshima’s Naka Ward at which she recalled her experience in the atomic bombing at the age of 13, and the deaths of her family members and classmates at the time. Expressing her gratitude for the chance to attend the ceremony for the first time in eight years, Ms. Thurlow said, “I was pained as I remembered what had happened 78 years ago, but I also was encouraged to be able to have spent time with others who seek peace.”
With respect to the prime minister’s remarks at the ceremony, Ms. Thurlow added, “I was left unsatisfied.” As for the G7 Leaders’ Hiroshima Vision on Nuclear Disarmament, a document issued at the G7 Hiroshima Summit in May, she once again offered her criticism of the vision statement. “In the very city where people proclaim the elimination of nuclear weapon as their only hope, the document did its part to directly justify nuclear deterrence.” Ms. Thurlow called on civil society to push Mr. Kishida for his true feelings on the issue and to urge the Kishida administration to correct its inconsistency, given Mr. Kishida’s public calls for a world without nuclear weapons.
The press conference with Ms. Thurlow was organized by such groups as the executive committee behind the Citizens’ Summit 2023, which served as a venue for discussions of the challenges facing the international community, in conjunction with the holding of the G7 Hiroshima Summit. That executive committee also released the Citizens’ Declaration on Peace 2023, a document that urges decisions by international leaders and actions by citizens aimed at the elimination of nuclear weapons.
(Originally published on August 7, 2023)
Setsuko Thurlow, 91, an A-bomb survivor who is now a resident of Canada, attended the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony and later expressed disappointment about the remarks made by Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, elected from the A-bombed Hiroshima. “Neither his strong desire for the elimination of nuclear weapons nor a concrete plan for that goal was evident in his statement.” Ms. Thurlow asserted that civil society needed to urge the government to move away from its policy of reliance on nuclear deterrence.
After the ceremony concluded, Ms. Thurlow held a press conference in Hiroshima’s Naka Ward at which she recalled her experience in the atomic bombing at the age of 13, and the deaths of her family members and classmates at the time. Expressing her gratitude for the chance to attend the ceremony for the first time in eight years, Ms. Thurlow said, “I was pained as I remembered what had happened 78 years ago, but I also was encouraged to be able to have spent time with others who seek peace.”
With respect to the prime minister’s remarks at the ceremony, Ms. Thurlow added, “I was left unsatisfied.” As for the G7 Leaders’ Hiroshima Vision on Nuclear Disarmament, a document issued at the G7 Hiroshima Summit in May, she once again offered her criticism of the vision statement. “In the very city where people proclaim the elimination of nuclear weapon as their only hope, the document did its part to directly justify nuclear deterrence.” Ms. Thurlow called on civil society to push Mr. Kishida for his true feelings on the issue and to urge the Kishida administration to correct its inconsistency, given Mr. Kishida’s public calls for a world without nuclear weapons.
The press conference with Ms. Thurlow was organized by such groups as the executive committee behind the Citizens’ Summit 2023, which served as a venue for discussions of the challenges facing the international community, in conjunction with the holding of the G7 Hiroshima Summit. That executive committee also released the Citizens’ Declaration on Peace 2023, a document that urges decisions by international leaders and actions by citizens aimed at the elimination of nuclear weapons.
(Originally published on August 7, 2023)
