117 Lawmakers Say Japan Should Join Nuclear Ban Treaty: Hidankyo

Tokyo, Feb. 4 (Jiji Press)–A total of 117 Japanese lawmakers said they believe the country should sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, a survey by the hibakusha atomic bomb survivor group Nihon Hidankyo has shown. Meanwhile, the group, formally known as the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, said that only 20 pct of members of the Diet, or parliament, responded to the survey. No responses were given by members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. “It is very disappointing that not a single LDP member replied,” Nihon Hidankyo co-chair Terumi Tanaka, 93, said at a press conference in Tokyo on Tuesday. “We need lawmakers to have solid views.” “I can’t help but feel a lack of interest,” Michiko Kodama, 88, assistant secretary-general at Nihon Hidankyo, said. She called on the government to join the treaty. The group called on people to consider the survey results in deciding for whom to vote, as the survey was conducted ahead of Sunday’s general election for the House of Representatives, the all-important lower chamber of the Diet. The questionnaire survey was sent to all Diet members, with responses collected by last December. A total of 147 lawmakers from eight parties and parliamentary groups as well as independents gave answers, for a response rate of 20.6 pct. Of those who said Japan should sign and ratify the nuclear ban treaty, 57 were from the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, 15 from the Japanese Communist Party and one from the Japan Innovation Party, the coalition partner of the LDP. No respondent said Japan should not join the treaty, while most of the 30 lawmakers who gave alternative responses said Tokyo should participate as an observer nation while upholding the policy of the Japan-U.S. nuclear and security alliance and nuclear deterrence. Many respondents cited the strengthening of peace diplomacy and the promotion of Diet deliberations as prerequisites for Japan’s participation in the treaty. Meanwhile, 104 lawmakers said it was shameful for Japan as a peaceful nation not to be participating in the treaty. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]