Groups submit more signatures to gov’t endorsing anti-nuclear treaty

June 21 , 2026

On June 19, the Nobel-prize-winning Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo) and other groups submitted 224,684 additional signatures of citizens urging the Japanese government to sign and promote the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). The latest submission increases the total signatures collected to 3.67 million people.

Masaaki Taniai, who chairs Komeito’s committee for the abolition of nuclear weapons and head of the party’s House of Councillors caucus, spoke at the event. He said that Komeito issued its peacebuilding initiative in May 2025 with abolishing nuclear weapons as a core objective and, given the concerning trend of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons’ review conferences over the past three sessions, the TPNW has assumed even greater importance. Tanai also noted that while some Diet members are seeking to recognize Japan’s right to collective defense, his party will insist on maintaining the Constitution’s war-renouncing Article 9 as being foundational to Japanese pacifism upheld since the end of World War II.

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