Soka Gakkai Calls for Elimination of Nuclear Weapons and Urges Japan’s Participation in UN Nuclear B

On August 6, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Soka Gakkai released a statement calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons and the early entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).

The Soka Gakkai pledges to exert all efforts for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons and also urges the Japanese government to move toward participation in the TPNW, stating, “At this deeply significant juncture, the government of Japan, the only country to have suffered atomic bombings during war, should announce its readiness to consider participation in the TPNW, thus positively shaping the discourse on the elimination of nuclear weapons within the international community.”

In the statement, Yoshiki Tanigawa, chair of the Soka Gakkai Council on Peace Issues, states, “In recent years, there are signs that a nuclear arms race among the nuclear-weapon states is again intensifying. At the same time, the global spread of the novel coronavirus has demonstrated that military force is incapable of resolving global challenges, compelling us to confront the question of what constitutes authentic security for human beings.” The full statement can be viewed here.