nuclear-news

Former Tokyo Governor calls for nuclear weapons for Japan

Possible kingmaker calls for nuclear-armed Japan Sunday Times Sri Lanka,  20 NOVEMBER 2012 TOKYO,  (AFP) – Firebrand former Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara, a potential kingmaker in next month’s general election, said Tuesday Japan must acquire nuclear weapons if it wants to be taken seriously.
At very least, avowedly pacifist Japan should examine what it would need to do to join the club of declared nuclear powers, the 80-year-old arch conservative told foreign journalists in Tokyo. “I think Japan should at least carry out an analysis on going nuclear,” Ishihara said.
“The diplomatic voice of countries without nuclear weapons is overwhelmingly weak,” he said.

Ishihara has a long track record of saying controversial things and breaking cultural taboos. He has previously expressed the same thoughts on Japan — the only country on which a nuclear attack has ever taken place — getting atomic weapons.

But his comments Tuesday come just days after he was declared leader of a populist party forged ahead of the December 16 general election with the express aim of challenging the two major forces in Japanese politics.
Next month’s poll is expected to end without a clear result, with prime minister Yoshihiko Noda’s Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) and the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party seen likely to fall short
of a majority.
Commentators expect a period of horse trading as a coalition is forged, with Ishihara’s Japan Restoration Party (JRP) a leading contender for a post-election political marriage…….
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=27076:-possible-kingmaker-calls-for-nuclear-armed-japan&catid=81:news&Itemid=625

November 21, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, politics, weapons and war