Hiroshima Mayor Matsui presents statement to Foreign Minister Kishida
On November 9th and 10th, Japanese member cities of Mayors for Peace met in Hiroshima City and adopted a Letter of Request to the Japanese government to take action to achieve a nuclear weapons convention (click here for original in Japanese).
On December 24th, on behalf of Japanese member cities of Mayors for Peace, President Matsui, Mayor of the City of Hiroshima, and Mr. Okubo, Director of the Peace Promotion Office of the City of Nagasaki, met with Foreign Minister Kishida and presented him with the Letter of Request.
On receiving the Letter of Request, Minister Kishida said, “I sincerely accept the wish of Mayors for Peace, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki. Nuclear disarmament can proceed only if nuclear-weapon states and non-nuclear-weapon states work together. As the only country to have ever suffered atomic bombings, Japan would like to play a leading role in providing a bridge between countries with nuclear weapons and those without them.”