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Military
Hiroshima Mayor to Urge End of Nuclear Umbrella
Monday, August 2, 2010
Akiba
Tokyo -- Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba will urge the Japanese government to withdraw from the so-called "nuclear umbrella," the arrangement by which Japan receives protection from US nuclear weapons, in his commemorative speech on August 6, the anniversary of the atomic bombing of his city in 1945.
Akiba will also ask the government to enshrine Japan's three "non-nuclear principles" into law.
The three non-nuclear principles state that Japan shall neither possess nor manufacture nuclear weapons, nor shall permit their introduction into Japanese territory.
They were declared by then-Prime Minister Eisaku Sato in 1967, but the third principle was secretly violated on at least several occasions.
The ceremonies in Hiroshima this year are expected to be one of the largest ever, with US Ambassador John Roos and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, among many other dignitaries, in attendance.
Despite the urgings of Mayor Akiba and many hibakusha (victims of the atomic bombing), the Japanese government is currently moving away from its traditional non-nuclear posture under pressure from Washington and Japan's own business community.
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