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Hiroshima mayor calls on Japan to leave U.S. nuclear umbrella

As a lawmaker and later Hiroshima mayor, Akiba recognized that his city had the moral obligation to warn the world of the nuclear danger, the Magsaysay Award organizers said. He led a movement called Mayors for Peace that includes more than 4,000 cities in 144 countries.

Hiroshima mayor to urge Japan to leave U.S. nuclear umbrella, The Japan Times Online, Aug. 3, 2010, HIROSHIMA (Kyodo) Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba says he will urge Japan to withdraw from the U.S. nuclear umbrella in his peace declaration Friday at the annual ceremony marking the 1945 atomic bombing of the city.

An outline of the speech, unveiled by Akiba on Monday, also urges the central government to legislate its three nonnuclear principles — against production, possession and introduction of nuclear weapons in Japan — while asking it to provide comprehensive assistance to aging victims of the atomic bombings and radiation effects.

The speech says the voices of the world’s citizens are becoming the greatest force in moving the international community, referring to the final document adopted at the U.N. review conference on the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in May that mentioned for the first time the Nuclear Weapons Convention, a treaty yet to be adopted on the total ban of nuclear weapons.

Akiba’s speech will be given on what he said would be a “historic Aug. 6,” as the United States and other nuclear states will send representatives to the ceremony for the first time…….As a lawmaker and later Hiroshima mayor, Akiba recognized that his city had the moral obligation to warn the world of the nuclear danger, the Magsaysay Award organizers said. He led a movement called Mayors for Peace that includes more than 4,000 cities in 144 countries.

Hiroshima mayor to urge Japan to leave U.S. nuclear umbrella | The Japan Times Online

August 3, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | antinuclear, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive