Toshio Matsuda, Commentator & Intl Economist

Straight from the Shoulder No.600

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Hiroshima City again hosted the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, on August 6, the 65th anniversary of the United States' use of the atomic bomb. This year's ceremony was the subject of much attention because the American Ambassador to Japan, John V. Roos, was also in attendance.
This was the first time for representatives of the allies that fought against Japan in WWII, specifically, the United States, the United Kingdom, France and the former Soviet Union, to participate.
Their participation is said to have been influenced by President Obama's appeal in Prague, Czecho in April last year, where he envisioned of a world free of nuclear weapons.
Since President Obama's April, 2009 speech in Prague (Czecho), it appears that international governments are moving toward the complete elimination of nuclear weapons. This move is evidenced by the many related events that have occurred between the time he gave that speech and the peace ceremony held at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. Of particular mention are North Korea's second nuclear test in May; the UNSC resolution against nuclear weapons in September; the agreement between the United States and Russia in the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (also known as START), also in September; start of the talks for the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, also known as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in May, and the UNSC's sanctions on Iran because of suspicions of the country’s nuclear ambitions, in June.

The former Prime Minister of Japan, Eisaku Sato signed the reversion of Okinawa with President Nixon in May, 1972, and at the same time, declared Japan's national credo of abiding to the three non-nuclear principles; he was awarded the Nobel Peace Price. In truth, however, Japan’s policy for the three non-nuclear principles is sadly only in name, and Okinawa remains one of America’s nuclear base stations, as this magazine stated in the previous issue.
So what exactly did President Obama mean by saying he wanted a world that is free of nuclear weapons?
The targets for the UNSC’s resolution against nuclear arms, and the nuclear nonproliferation treaty are the countries other than the nuclear oligopolistic countries (USA, USSR, UK, France, and China: the permanent members of the UNSC) such as North Korea and Iran; the purpose is purely to maintain the oligopoly of those countries that presently possess nuclear weapons.
Yet, the recent simplification of nuclear technologies now has made it possible for such powerful and dangerous weapons to come into the hands of terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda. If nuclear weapons happen to get into the hands of a terrorist group, the nuclear deterrent of the countries of the oligopoly, with the US at the top, will no longer have any effect. If that is true, it is no wonder that it is more logical to simply do away with nuclear weapons completely.
There are two aspects to what the Mayor of Hiroshima, Mr. Tadatoshi Akiba, demanded. The Mayor knows well the suffering of those that survived the atomic bombing of his city. The first aspect of his appeal is a human ideal of eliminating nuclear weapons from the world. The second is to eliminate nuclear weapons from Japan, or more specifically from Okinawa. Mayor Akiba’s ideal of eliminating nuclear weapons and removing them (expressed as a withdrawal of the nuclear deterrent) from Okinawa is completely unrelated to what President Obama said regarding creating a world that is free of nuclear weapons.
So again, what did President Obama mean by describing a world that is free of nuclear weapons? In the future, America will solely, and through the UN, use political pressure to force smaller countries to abandon nuclear weapons. Next, they will strive to abolish them also from the countries of that oligopoly while trying to maintain a status as being the only country that continues to possess nuclear weapons. This is United State’s plot to create their new nuclear dominance over the world.
Both President Obama and the former Japanese Prime Minister, Sato, were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. They also share a commonality in that their calls for peace are really only merely words.
With or without knowledge of the truth, Japan’s Prime Minister Kan rebutted Mayor Akiba’s demand that Japan should withdraw from America’s nuclear deterrent by declaring: We need a nuclear deterrent.
He protested against Mayor Akiba’s statement by saying that Japan needs the existing American nuclear base. That stance is completely inconsistent with Japan’s policy for three non-nuclear principles.
I began to wonder if Prime Minister Kan is really fit to be a politician. He did not understand what Mayor Akiba meant by saying there must be a withdraw from America’s nuclear deterrent. Mr. Akiba understands the truth about the reversion of Okinawa under the Japan-US Security Treaty. It is under that treaty that Japan’s security is safeguarded.
Many years ago, Shoukichi Kina (a former singer who became a member of the upper house) met Mayor Akiba at the live-music establishment that he ran in Naha called “Chakura.” I still remember him talking about a government that acts as though it has three non-nuclear principles, even though it does not.
Mayor Akiba said that because the representatives of the allied countries, the winning countries, were present, that made the ceremony one to be remembered. He did not say “eliminate nuclear weapons from Okinawa.” Instead he phrased it to be to a “withdrawal of the nuclear deterrent.”
That must have shaken up Mr. Roos, the American Ambassador to Japan.
Because it was a ceremony and not a speech being made in the Diet, Mayor Akiba could press his declaration for peace (in other words, his ideal) and express a demand for the US to eliminate nuclear weapons from Japan. There is no mistake about that.
So in comparison, what has our Prime Minister, Mr. Kan, done?
As Japan’s Prime Minister, was he able to appeal to the world that Japan is a truly country that aspires toward world peace? The survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki probably know better than anyone else.