On the 1st, 68 years after the tuna fishing boat "Daigo Fukuryu Maru" in Yaizu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, was exposed to a hydrogen bomb test in the United States, we prayed for the abolition of nuclear weapons in front of the grave of a former crew member whose supporters died.
Participants protested that Russia's President Vladimir Putin was "absolutely unforgivable" for emphasizing his stance of showing off his nuclear power in the military invasion of Ukraine.
On March 1, 1954, the Daigo Fukuryu Maru, which was in operation in the South Pacific Ocean, was exposed to radioactive fallout in a hydrogen bomb test conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands, and had 23 crew members. Was exposed.
On the 1st, 68 years later, about 50 relatives and supporters of the former crew gathered in Yaizu City and died half a year after the exposure, leaving behind the words, "I want the victims of the atomic bomb to be the last." A prayer for peace was held at the temple where the tomb of former crew member Aikichi Kuboyama is located.
At the rally, participants burned incense in front of Mr. Kuboyama's altar and quietly joined hands to pray for the abolition of nuclear weapons.
Then, Yoshihiko Yamamoto, director of the Daigo Fukuryu Maru Peace Association, said, "Russia is barbaric in violating the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which is used to threaten nuclear weapons. We will move forward. "
According to the supporters, two of the 23 former crew members survived, and the issue is how to convey the fact of exposure to posterity.
Keiko Kawamura, a sister-in-law of former crew member Oishi Matashichi, who died last March at the age of 87, said of Russia's attitude, "I would be surprised if my brother was alive. Is absolutely unforgivable. It's a small force, but we all have to speak out and I want to pass on my experience as one of my relatives. "