Japan nuclear weapons debate worries bomb survivors

Japan's debate over whether to revisit its nuclear weapons stance is worrying survivors of the 1945 atomic bombings as Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's government updates national defence policy.

Japan's constitution renounces offensive military force, and successive governments have maintained the three non-nuclear principles: not possessing nuclear weapons, not producing them and not allowing them to be brought into the country. The principles date to 1967.

Takaichi has declined to say whether she will keep that stance. Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi called last month for a discussion on the issue “without a taboo”.

The debate comes as East Asian neighbours, notably China, expand military capabilities and as doubts persist in Japan about the reliability of the United States as Tokyo's main security backer. Takaichi's government is undertaking a major update of the national defence strategy this year. She has also lifted Japan's self-imposed ban on weapons exports, expanded defence spending and pushed to amend the constitution.

Major Japanese outlets including NHK and Asahi Shimbun reported in December that an unnamed senior administration official had suggested in an off-the-record session that Japan should possess nuclear weapons. The reports drew public criticism.

Satoshi Tanaka, an 82-year-old campaigner who survived the Hiroshima bombing, told AFP he worried that Takaichi may want to change Japan's anti-nuclear commitment. After Takaichi attended the Hiroshima anniversary ceremony and met survivors, she said Japan “currently adheres” to the three non-nuclear principles, but did not discuss what she might do next.

Hirofumi Yoshimura, head of the Japan Innovation Party, a coalition partner in Takaichi's government, said Japan should continue not possessing or producing nuclear weapons, but said there was room to discuss the principle of not allowing them to be brought into the country in the context of the US-Japan alliance.

Japan marked the 81st anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing on Thursday and was due to mark the Nagasaki anniversary on Sunday. The US atomic bombings in August 1945 killed more than 210,000 people, including many who died from radiation exposure. They remain the only use of atomic weapons in warfare.

As of March, Japan recognised just over 91,000 survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki attacks, down from more than 164,000 a decade earlier. Their average age is 86.7.