Nihon Hidankyo Urges Loan, Investment Ban on Nuke Makers

Tokyo, April 10 (Jiji Press)–Nihon Hidankyo, a group of hibakusha atomic bomb survivors in Japan, said Friday that it will launch a campaign urging financial institutions not to invest in or give loans to companies that manufacture nuclear weapons. Nihon Hidankyo, formally called the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, and others will directly make the request to financial institutions, arguing that “as the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons has become an international standard, providing funds to (nuclear weapon) manufacturers runs counter to corporate social responsibility.” The group met with officials of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. the same day to call for the prohibition. It is set to make the same request to Mizuho Financial Group Inc. on April 17. Sumitomo Mitsui and Mizuho are among Japan’s three megabank groups. “Nuclear weapons are the weapons of the devil,” Nihon Hidankyo co-chair Terumi Tanaka, 93, told a press conference in Tokyo. “Whatever the form, (people and companies) should not participate in their creation.” Masako Wada, assistant secretary-general of the organization, said she does not expect financial institutions’ involvement in nuclear weapon manufacturing and said, “It’s important to let them know.” “I hope that the public will know how their deposits are being used and that financial institutions as a whole will move to withdraw funds” from nuclear weapons makers, said Takeo Nakagawa of the organization called Physicians against Nuclear War. Resona Holdings Inc., a major banking group, and Nippon Life Insurance Co., Japan’s leading life insurer, have rules prohibiting investments and loans linked to nuclear weapon manufacturing. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]