Nagasaki, the 9th August - TV screen (4)
Originally uploaded by nofrills.
The Peace Declaration by Mr Tomihisa Taue (田上富久), the mayor of Nagasaki City. From a news report on the 62th anniversary of the atomic bomb.
Mr Tagami was elected mayor of the city in April this year after the former mayor, Mr Iccho Ito was shot dead on 17th April.
Very recently, one of the cabinet ministers - the Defence Minister at the time - was forced to resign after he made a gaffe about the atomic bomb. (He said the atomic bombs were not to be helped to end the war, "あれで戦争が終わったのだからしかたがない" in Japanese.) The disgraced minister, Mr Fumio Kyuma, is from Nagasaki, and he stirred up anger among the Japanese people, especially the voters and citizens in Nagasaki.
Today the mayor began his speech by mentioning the late Mr Ito's efforts in trying to ban the nuclear weapons. He urged the international society should do more to revive the NPT and warned about the nuclear crisis we are facing now. He pointed out that Japan is the only country that has this experience, and that it should take an active and leading part on the basis of the article 9 of the constitution. Then he went on describing our "reality".
From the English translation of the Peace Declaration:
www1.city.nagasaki.nagasaki.jp/abm/abm_e/heiwasengen/seng...
"Today, in the midst of erroneous interpretation of the atomic bombings (as expressed by Mr Kyuma) and discussion of potential nuclear weapons possession even in Japan, it is necessary to enact the Three Non-Nuclear Principles into law, not merely stating them as national policy."
The Prime Minister of Japan, Mr Shinzo Abe, was also present at the ceremony to make a speech, but I found nothing new other than what he said on the 6th in Hiroshima: he is the one who was mainly responsible for the "discussion of potential nuclear weapons possession even in Japan" before he became the PM. Now as a PM, he should answer the Nagasaki mayor's strong request "to enact the Three Non-Nuclear Principles into law." But I don't know what will happen.
-- TV screen, the NHK's 7 O'Clock News, 9th August 2007.
