On Thursday, March 17th, Tadatoshi Akiba made a special appeal to world leaders. He recalled the “hell” his townspeople had endured.

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Hiroshima, August 6, 1945

The exclamation of the former mayor of Hiroshima, who ruled the city from 1999 to 2011, was quoted by the Kyodo news agency. He described the petition of politicians, which was signed by almost a hundred thousand people. In it, Tadatoshi Akiba demands that Russian President Vladimir Putin and other world leaders make a clear statement that they will not use nuclear weapons during the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

Akiba explained that Russia’s decision to deploy special combat readiness deterrence forces, including nuclear ones, took all the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by surprise. The former politician recalls that the 1945 bombings were “real hell” for those who survived the explosions. He called on people who were not convinced to visit these cities, to see the destroyed places with their own eyes and learn about this chapter in Japanese history.

War in Ukraine. The former mayor of Hiroshima appeals to the Japanese Prime Minister

Vladimir Putin is not the only recipient of the former mayor’s call. Tadatoshi Akiba also spoke to Japan’s Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, asking him to arrange a meeting with the president of Russia and other nuclear powers. The politician would pass on to them a message from the hibakusha group, the 1945 survivors, who, having survived the explosions in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, fought for worldwide nuclear disarmament.

The author of the appeal adds that Prime Minister Kishida has just been elected from the Hiroshima constituency, therefore he must have special persuasive powers.