Appeasing Criticisms on Nuclear Policy

As if showing deep remorse on forgetting to deliver important message in Hiroshima, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe firmly pronounced “three non-nuclear principles” in his speech at seventieth memorial ceremony for victims of an atomic bomb in Nagasaki on Sunday. However, the people not satisfied with the literal commitment on international peace gave broad applause to Mayor of Nagasaki, Tomihisa Taue, when he raised concern on security policy of Japanese government in Nagasaki Declaration of Peace. It takes time for Abe to get credibility on his security policy.

In the memorial ceremony in Hiroshima, Mayor of Hiroshima did not refer to current security bills discussed in the Diet. Nagasaki was different. “I appeal to the Government of Japan. Please explore national security measures which do not rely on nuclear deterrence. The establishment of a ‘Northeast Asia Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone,’ as advocated by researchers in America, Japan, Korea, China, and many other countries, would make this possible. Fix your sights on the future, and please consider a conversion from ‘a nuclear umbrella’ to a ‘non-nuclear umbrella,” said Taue.

Opposition to the security bills was clear. “There is widespread unease and concern that the oath which was engraved onto our hearts 70 years ago and the peaceful ideology of the Constitution of Japan are now wavering. I urge the Government and the Diet to listen to these voices of unease and concern, concentrate their wisdom, and conduct careful and sincere deliberations,” told Taue.

Concern described by Taue represented fundamental frustration of the people suffered from the atomic bomb. When the phrases quoted above ended, broad and firm applause, without chanting as in memorial ceremony in Okinawa in June, spread in the audience mainly consisted of families of the victims. TV live footage broadcast Abe’s a little flattered appearance with his eyes rolling.

After the ceremony, Abe insisted on the importance of new security legislation. “The bills are to prevent war and necessary for protecting people’s peaceful life,” told Abe in his press conference in Nagasaki. “No single Japanese wants war,” he added, “and our determination for denouncement of war and principle for peace would not be changed.”

However, unilateral attitude on his conservative agenda has been forced to be changed. Not only he had to accept the request to refer to three non-nuclear principles in Nagasaki, Abe reportedly abandoned to visit Yasukuni Shrine on August 15^th this year. It might be enough for him, if he could achieve reinterpretation of Constitution of Japan and remove “apology” from seventieth anniversary statement from the end of war.