Koizumi gets tepid welcome at Hiroshima A-bomb ceremony

0 Comments | Asian Political News, August 9, 2004

HIROSHIMA, Aug. 6 Kyodo

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi received a lukewarm welcome Friday at the annual atomic bombing memorial in Hiroshima, apparently because of local citizens' growing frustration at moves within the government to revise the pacifist Constitution.

In front of about 45,000 people at the ceremony to mark the 59th anniversary of the U.S. nuclear attack on Hiroshima, Koizumi made a speech in which he reiterated his pledge to observe the war-renouncing Constitution.

But in sharp contrast to the reception given to Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba and other speakers, the premier received only thin applause after his speech and was even booed by some in the crowd.

Koizumi appeared irritated, and he made the address hurriedly and in a rather feeble voice.

''I was not able to hear what he was saying even though he was speaking using a microphone,'' one woman said.

Akiba made this year's Peace Declaration before Koizumi's speech, harshly criticizing the United States for ''egocentric'' global and nuclear policies as well as the Japanese government for showing a leaning toward revising the Constitution.

''The Japanese government...should defend the Peace Constitution, of which all Japanese should be proud, and work diligently to rectify the trend toward open acceptance of war and nuclear weapons,'' Akiba, a former opposition lawmaker, said.

Akiba, leading the Mayors for Peace, an organization composed of 611 mayors of cities in 109 countries, gave a de facto warning to Koizumi and other senior lawmakers of his ruling Liberal Democratic Party as well as those in the opposition bloc who argue for revision of the Constitution.

It was Koizumi's fourth time to join the Hiroshima peace ceremony as prime minister but first since his government deployed noncombat troops in Iraq for reconstruction assistance. The deployment was Japan's first dispatch of troops to a country where hostilities are ongoing since the end of World War II.

In a press conference after the ceremony in Hiroshima, Koizumi said, ''We have sent (the troops to Iraq) within the framework of the Constitution. The troops represent Japanese nationals' goodwill and are undertaking humanitarian and reconstruction assistance.''

On the controversial issue of revising the Constitution, he said, ''I think discussion of the revision of Article 9 should be under way with such premises as pacifism and respect for fundamental human rights.''

But A-bomb survivors who listened to Koizumi at the ceremony called into question the necessity of revising the Constitution.

''Japan should maintain its peace Constitution beyond all questions, and the SDF should commit themselves only to protecting Japan,'' Makiko Kawamura, 75, said.

A 63-year-old man said, ''I cannot approve of revising the Constitution. I'm scared that Asian countries would protest.''