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Japan
Nuclear-weapon endorser
Has not yet joined the TPNW
Status
Japan has not yet signed or ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).
National position
Japan has consistently voted against an annual UN General Assembly resolution since 2018 that welcomes the adoption of the TPNW and calls upon all states to sign, ratify, or accede to it “at the earliest possible date”. It has indicated that it does not intend to sign or ratify the treaty.
In 2022, Japan said: “The TPNW is an important treaty that could be regarded as a final passage toward a world without nuclear weapons. However, engagement with nuclear-weapon states remains necessary in order to change the current reality.”
Japan supports the retention and potential use of US nuclear weapons on its behalf, as indicated in various policy statements, including the country’s national security strategy of 2013, which states that “the extended deterrence of the US, with nuclear deterrence at its core, is indispensable [to Japan]”.
US atomic bombings
Japan is the only country to have suffered the wartime use of nuclear weapons. In the final days of World War II, the United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing a quarter of a million people instantly or within a few months of the attacks.
Almost all of the victims were civilians. Many thousands more have died in the years following the attacks from illnesses caused by their exposure to radiation from the bombs.
Residents of Hiroshima hold a vigil in 2017 as TPNW negotiations take place at the United Nations in New York. Photo: HANWA
Meetings of states parties
Japan did not attend as an observer the first meeting of states parties to the TPNW, held in Vienna in June 2022, despite calls for it to do so by atomic bomb survivors, civil society organisations, and the Komeito political party, which forms part of the coalition government.
The Japanese prime minister, Fumio Kishida, defended the decision not to participate, arguing that Japan should promote nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation in a way that allows it to maintain “trust with the United States, Japan’s only defence ally”. (The United States declined to comment on whether it had discouraged Japan from attending.)
The mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki attended the meeting of states parties, representing the Mayors for Peace network, and expressed regret that Japan was not present in an official capacity.
In August 2022, the Komeito political party suggested that Japan should participate in the second meeting of states parties as an observer and contribute its expertise in the area of of victim assistance, based on its own national experience.
Tomihisa Taue and Kazumi Matsui, the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki respectively, attend the first meeting of states parties to the TPNW in 2022. Photo: Kyodo
Political developments
In 2020, the Komeito political party submitted an “urgent proposal” to the then-minister of foreign affairs, Toshimitsu Motegi, encouraging the government to reassess its position on the TPNW.
In 2021, the prime minister, Fumio Kishida, said: “I believe that the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is a very important treaty for a world without nuclear weapons.”
The former Japanese prime minister Hatoyama Yukio, former foreign minister Tanaka Makiko, and former defence minister Tanaka Naoki signed an open letter in 2020 calling on current leaders to “show courage and boldness – and join the [TPNW]”.
Hibakusha and campaigners meet with foreign ministry officials and parliamentarians in Tokyo in 2021 as the TPNW enters into force. Photo: ICAN
Public opinion
An academic survey conducted in 2019 found that 75 per cent of Japanese people believe that their country should join the TPNW, with only 18 per cent opposed and 7 per cent undecided.
A separate poll conducted by Japan’s national broadcaster, NHK, in 2019 found that 66 per cent of Japanese people believe that their country should join the TPNW, with 17 per cent opposed and the remainder undecided.
The Japanese government’s unwillingness to date to support the TPNW has angered many of the remaining survivors of the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, who have said that they feel betrayed by the government.
Many Japanese cities, including Hiroshima and Nagasaki, have called on the Japanese government to sign and ratify the TPNW.
The mayor of Nagasaki, Tomihisa Taue, said in 2017, at a ceremony to mark the atomic bombing of his city, that the adoption of the TPNW “was a moment when all the efforts of the hibakusha over the years finally took shape”.
In 2019, on the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the mayor of that city, Kazumi Matsui, called on “the government of the only country to experience a nuclear weapon in war to accede to the hibakusha’s request that the [TPNW] be signed and ratified”.
TPNW negotiations
Japan did not formally participate in the negotiation of the TPNW at the United Nations in New York in 2017 and thus did not vote on its adoption. However, it attended the opening session of the negotiations to explain its decision not to participate. It said that “it would be difficult for Japan to participate in this conference in a constructive manner and in good faith”.
In 2016, Japan voted against the UN General Assembly resolution that established the formal mandate for states to commence negotiations on “a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination”.
Many media outlets and civil society groups in Japan criticised the government for opposing the negotiations. The Japan Times, for example, argued that the decision “contradicts the nation’s long-standing call for the elimination of [nuclear] weapons as the sole country to have suffered nuclear attacks”.
One month before the commencement of the TPNW negotiations, the then-president of the United States, Donald Trump, and then-prime minister of Japan, Abe Shinzō, issued a joint statement declaring that “[t]he US commitment to defend Japan through the full range of US military capabilities, both nuclear and conventional, is unwavering”.
Setsuko Thurlow, an ICAN campaigner and atomic bomb survivor, applauds the adoption of the TPNW by 122 states on 7 July 2017. Photo: ICAN
Further information
Nuclear-weapon endorser
Has not yet joined the TPNW
[HIGHLIGHTS]
Status
Japan has not yet signed or ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).
National position
Japan has consistently voted against an annual UN General Assembly resolution since 2018 that welcomes the adoption of the TPNW and calls upon all states to sign, ratify, or accede to it “at the earliest possible date”. It has indicated that it does not intend to sign or ratify the treaty.
In 2022, Japan said: “The TPNW is an important treaty that could be regarded as a final passage toward a world without nuclear weapons. However, engagement with nuclear-weapon states remains necessary in order to change the current reality.”
Japan supports the retention and potential use of US nuclear weapons on its behalf, as indicated in various policy statements, including the country’s national security strategy of 2013, which states that “the extended deterrence of the US, with nuclear deterrence at its core, is indispensable [to Japan]”.
US atomic bombings
Japan is the only country to have suffered the wartime use of nuclear weapons. In the final days of World War II, the United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing a quarter of a million people instantly or within a few months of the attacks.
Almost all of the victims were civilians. Many thousands more have died in the years following the attacks from illnesses caused by their exposure to radiation from the bombs.
Residents of Hiroshima hold a vigil in 2017 as TPNW negotiations take place at the United Nations in New York. Photo: HANWA
Meetings of states parties
Japan did not attend as an observer the first meeting of states parties to the TPNW, held in Vienna in June 2022, despite calls for it to do so by atomic bomb survivors, civil society organisations, and the Komeito political party, which forms part of the coalition government.
The Japanese prime minister, Fumio Kishida, defended the decision not to participate, arguing that Japan should promote nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation in a way that allows it to maintain “trust with the United States, Japan’s only defence ally”. (The United States declined to comment on whether it had discouraged Japan from attending.)
The mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki attended the meeting of states parties, representing the Mayors for Peace network, and expressed regret that Japan was not present in an official capacity.
In August 2022, the Komeito political party suggested that Japan should participate in the second meeting of states parties as an observer and contribute its expertise in the area of of victim assistance, based on its own national experience.
Tomihisa Taue and Kazumi Matsui, the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki respectively, attend the first meeting of states parties to the TPNW in 2022. Photo: Kyodo
Political developments
In 2020, the Komeito political party submitted an “urgent proposal” to the then-minister of foreign affairs, Toshimitsu Motegi, encouraging the government to reassess its position on the TPNW.
In 2021, the prime minister, Fumio Kishida, said: “I believe that the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is a very important treaty for a world without nuclear weapons.”
The former Japanese prime minister Hatoyama Yukio, former foreign minister Tanaka Makiko, and former defence minister Tanaka Naoki signed an open letter in 2020 calling on current leaders to “show courage and boldness – and join the [TPNW]”.
Hibakusha and campaigners meet with foreign ministry officials and parliamentarians in Tokyo in 2021 as the TPNW enters into force. Photo: ICAN
Public opinion
An academic survey conducted in 2019 found that 75 per cent of Japanese people believe that their country should join the TPNW, with only 18 per cent opposed and 7 per cent undecided.
A separate poll conducted by Japan’s national broadcaster, NHK, in 2019 found that 66 per cent of Japanese people believe that their country should join the TPNW, with 17 per cent opposed and the remainder undecided.
The Japanese government’s unwillingness to date to support the TPNW has angered many of the remaining survivors of the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, who have said that they feel betrayed by the government.
Many Japanese cities, including Hiroshima and Nagasaki, have called on the Japanese government to sign and ratify the TPNW.
The mayor of Nagasaki, Tomihisa Taue, said in 2017, at a ceremony to mark the atomic bombing of his city, that the adoption of the TPNW “was a moment when all the efforts of the hibakusha over the years finally took shape”.
In 2019, on the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the mayor of that city, Kazumi Matsui, called on “the government of the only country to experience a nuclear weapon in war to accede to the hibakusha’s request that the [TPNW] be signed and ratified”.
TPNW negotiations
Japan did not formally participate in the negotiation of the TPNW at the United Nations in New York in 2017 and thus did not vote on its adoption. However, it attended the opening session of the negotiations to explain its decision not to participate. It said that “it would be difficult for Japan to participate in this conference in a constructive manner and in good faith”.
In 2016, Japan voted against the UN General Assembly resolution that established the formal mandate for states to commence negotiations on “a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination”.
Many media outlets and civil society groups in Japan criticised the government for opposing the negotiations. The Japan Times, for example, argued that the decision “contradicts the nation’s long-standing call for the elimination of [nuclear] weapons as the sole country to have suffered nuclear attacks”.
One month before the commencement of the TPNW negotiations, the then-president of the United States, Donald Trump, and then-prime minister of Japan, Abe Shinzō, issued a joint statement declaring that “[t]he US commitment to defend Japan through the full range of US military capabilities, both nuclear and conventional, is unwavering”.
Setsuko Thurlow, an ICAN campaigner and atomic bomb survivor, applauds the adoption of the TPNW by 122 states on 7 July 2017. Photo: ICAN
Further information
[PARTNERS]
Peace Mask Project
Human Rights Now
Japanese for Peace
Japanese Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War
Palsystem
Peace Boat
Physicians Against Nuclear War (Japan)
Project Now
World Friendship Center
KAKUWAKA Hiroshima
ANT-Hiroshima
Maruki Gallery for the Hiroshima Panels
KNOW NUKES TOKYO
Hiroshima Alliance for Nuclear Weapons Abolition (HANWA)
GeNuine
[LOCALSUPPORT]
PARLIAMENTARY PLEDGE
HOUSE OF COUNCILORS
Takashi Esaki
Satoshi Inoue
Michihiro Ishibashi
Noriko Ishigaki
Makiko Kishi
Seishi Kumano
Shinji Morimoto
Takashi Moriya
Masahito Ozawa
Yoshitaka Saito
Ayaka Shiomura
Tetsumi Takara
Eri Tokunaga
Sakura Uchikoshi
Nobuo Yasue
Takanori Yokosawa
Shinichi Yokoyama
Masayoshi Hamada
Takae Ito
Masao Kobayashi
Masaru Miyazaki
Ryuji Satomi
Hisatake Sugi
Wakako Yata
Hiroshi Yamaoto
Haruko Miyaguchi
Shu Watanabe
Takashi Takai
Kenko Matsuki
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Shunsuke Mutai
Masataka Ota
Mitsu Shimojo
Michiyo Takagi
Minoru Terada
Katsuhiko Yokomitsu
Kaori Ishikawa
Toru Ishizaki
Wataru Ito
Akiko Kamei
Fumiyoshi Murakami
Koji Sato
Kazunori Yamanoi
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PARLIAMENTARY PLEDGE
HOUSE OF COUNCILORS
Takashi Esaki
Satoshi Inoue
Michihiro Ishibashi
Noriko Ishigaki
Makiko Kishi
Seishi Kumano
Shinji Morimoto
Takashi Moriya
Masahito Ozawa
Yoshitaka Saito
Ayaka Shiomura
Tetsumi Takara
Eri Tokunaga
Sakura Uchikoshi
Nobuo Yasue
Takanori Yokosawa
Shinichi Yokoyama
Masayoshi Hamada
Takae Ito
Masao Kobayashi
Masaru Miyazaki
Ryuji Satomi
Hisatake Sugi
Wakako Yata
Hiroshi Yamaoto
Haruko Miyaguchi
Shu Watanabe
Takashi Takai
Kenko Matsuki
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Shunsuke Mutai
Masataka Ota
Mitsu Shimojo
Michiyo Takagi
Minoru Terada
Katsuhiko Yokomitsu
Kaori Ishikawa
Toru Ishizaki
Wataru Ito
Akiko Kamei
Fumiyoshi Murakami
Koji Sato
Kazunori Yamanoi
Find a partner in Japan to get active Become an ICAN Partner Organization ›
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Peace Mask Project
-
Human Rights Now
-
Japanese for Peace
-
Japanese Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War
-
Palsystem
-
Peace Boat
-
Physicians Against Nuclear War (Japan)
-
Project Now
-
World Friendship Center
-
KAKUWAKA Hiroshima
-
ANT-Hiroshima
-
Maruki Gallery for the Hiroshima Panels
-
KNOW NUKES TOKYO
-
Hiroshima Alliance for Nuclear Weapons Abolition (HANWA)
-
GeNuine