Scotsman.com News - Scotland - Japanese atomic bomb survivors arrested during Faslane protest

2007/08/11 03:47 PM

Thu 26 Jul 2007

Japanese atomic bomb survivors arrested during Faslane
protestCRAIG BROWN(crbrown@scotsman.com)
SURVIVORS of the Nagasaki atomic bomb attack were among those arrested at Faslane naval
base yesterday during a protest at plans to renew the Trident nuclear weapon system.
The five men, two of whom are A-bomb survivors, linked themselves together with bamboo
sticks and sat in the road in front of the base, near Helensburgh in Argyll.
A local woman who joined the protest was also arrested,
police said. Five Japanese women were detained during
the protest but freed later.
The protesters are part of a 12-strong group from Nagasaki,
where 74,000 people died and 75,000 were injured after anatomic bomb was dropped on the city at the end of theSecond World War.
They held a ceremony at the gates of the base, where theysprinkled water brought from the Peace Park in Nagasaki,
the site where the bomb was dropped, and left origami
cranes and other symbols of life and peace.
The group hopes their visit will remind politicians in
Scotland and the rest of the UK about the dangers they see in renewing Trident.
Shinya Moriguchi, 30, said: "My relatives survived the bomb and against this background I
cannot be indifferent to nuclear weapons.
"The UK stands at the crossroads of which way to go and I felt we should not miss this good
opportunity to persuade the UK to go down the route of nuclear disarmament."
Noboru Tasaki, 63, who has worked all his life for world peace and nuclear disarmament, said:"Our people know and experienced nuclear weapons and we know they are terrible for all
humanity.
"We hope that the UK government will change its decision and will go for disarmament of
nuclear weapons. I hope that today's demonstration will contribute to nuclear disarmament."
He added that if Britain was to opt to scrap its nuclear arsenal, it would have a profound effecton the campaign for global disarmament.
There were also several professors, scientists and teachers among the delegation. Their protest
is part of Faslane 365, a year-long peaceful blockade of the base which started last October.
A Faslane 365 spokesman said: "Today has been very powerful and special because of thenumber of bomb survivors here.
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Scotsman.com News - Scotland - Japanese atomic bomb survivors arrested during Faslane protest

2007/08/11 03:47 PM"It is part of a bigger effort to disrupt this horrible place and press for change and it is anecessary part of a very necessary change."
Strathclyde Police said that reports would be sent to the procurator-fiscal on the five arrestsmade.
Nagasaki was the target of the world's second atomic bomb attack at 11:02am on 9 August,
1945, when the north of the city was destroyed.
According to statistics kept at the Nagasaki Peace Park, the dead totalled 73,884, injured
74,909. Several hundred more also suffered diseases related to radiation from the bomb.
'A TERRIBLE SMELL OF BURNING'MITSUGU Moriguchi, 70, a retired elementary school teacher, was only nine years old whenNagasaki was bombed: "Luckily, I had been evacuated to the countryside at the time, but Iremember the bomb going off. I was playing outside with two of my brothers at the time when
there was a massive sound, followed by a gale created by the blast wave and the mushroom
cloud rising into the sky.
"We waited a week before returning to my original home in the city, which had been threekilometres from the blast centre.
"There are so many terrible images of the devastation that I remember, but one that sticks out
was the sight of all the burned bodies scattered at the roadside. Some of them were stillsmouldering, but the sight was accompanied by a terrible smell of burning, not just from thehuman bodies, but all the buildings around. It's something I will never forget.
"A decade later, one of my four sisters died of cancer caused by the radiation, and the threeother died shortly after, all from the effects of the bomb."'WE WERE SO FORTUNATE'NOBORU Tasaki, 63, a lecturer at Nagasaki University and a former director of the city's Officeof Peace Promotion, was 14 months old at the time of the blast.
"Fortunately, the farm where my parents worked was five kilometres from the blast, so eventhough I had been outside when it happened, I was not hurt.
"My parents told me that I had been bathing in a river at the time, and that I had started crying
because of the noise.
"Even though we were quite far from the centre of the city and sheltered from its effects by a hill,
my home still suffered damage. My father thought the blast had hit us because tiles from thefarm had been blown off.
"We were so fortunate, as my whole family escaped without fatalities, but it's impossible tocalculate the impact the bomb had on Nagaski, not just physically but spiritually andpsychologically.
"Once I learned about the devastating effects atomic bombs have, I worked with the city's Officeof Peace Promotion and its Atomic Bomb Museum, until my retirement three years ago."
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Scotsman.com News - Scotland - Japanese atomic bomb survivors arrested during Faslane protest

2007/08/11 03:47 PM

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Last updated: 25-Jul-07 00:10 BST

Comments1. The Fly Fifer, fife / 1:26am 26 Jul 2007
tough when you break the law but the law is the law
2. Jason, Japan / 1:43am 26 Jul 2007
Publicity that money just could not buy. And the Keystones fell for it by arresting them.
Hiroshima would have been better, but Nagasaki still gets journalists' attention. First theyignore them, then they harass them ...
3. Comment Removed
This comment has been removed by a moderator.
4. Mcsnagpile, S.E.A / 7:25am 26 Jul 2007
The atom bomb kills the soldier, the worker, the wife, the child, the unborn child and a newone the non conceived child. it corrupts the very fabric of life. The USA proved not oncebut twice that man can and will use all deterrents in his arsenal when he deems
necessary. Having visited the Nagasaki museum it demonstrated to me that World war 11
will never end as each successive generation suffers from a new disease. Perhaps it alsoteaches that such a war entered into must be total to ultimate annihilation or Pyrrhic
victory, a nuclear war gives few options.
5. donald, weegieland / 7:43am 26 Jul 2007
"Dis is for Hiroshima". The Glen of Weeping was "swarming with Nips", from hip flasks.
6. Nick_Byrne, Glasgow / 9:42am 26 Jul 2007
Damned protestors, has anyone ever told them they can make their point without blocking
the roads.
People have to work, ambulances, nurses, doctor and carers need to sek their patientsand children (although not at the moment) need to get to school.
But no, you block the roads so you can bring a tiny bit of press to a bunch of aging hippies
living in their own filth for the last thirties as part of a failed campaign.
Trident will out live the peace camp.
7. Comment Removed
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8. Allan(handofgod137) / 11:43am 26 Jul 2007
So we can comment on this but not on the previous story, what a disgrace!
9. Nell, The Preservation Hall / 1:15pm 26 Jul 2007
What about all the allied prisoners of war who were effectively terminated by theJapanese?
Also all the lives saved by not having to invade Japan to end the war.
10. Saoghal Beag / 1:54pm 26 Jul 2007
now where are those weapons of mass destruction???
11. true2cause, glesga / 2:42pm 26 Jul 2007
why cant i comment on the scottish lassies being raped by the non-indigenous citizens???
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12. Arrow, edinburgh / 3:25pm 26 Jul 2007
given that the Japs attacked the USA, Britain et al i am not sure what the were expecting.
general views are that had the Allies invaded the home island of Japan the estimatedcasualties among the Allies would have been c.1 million dead. and please do not give me
the guff that the Japs were defeated and that they were loooking for an honourable way tosurrender. the accepted view was that everyone would die for Hirohito and not enough did.
i wonder if the Japs and Germans had the use of the stomic bomb at the time would they
have used them? Damn sure they would
i have no sympathy whatsoever with the Japanese (civilians or otherwise) due to theatrocities committed by the Empire of Japan on POW's and civilians in the occupied landsin the Far East. a clash of cultures perhaps but they wanted to die for their Emperor andtheir wish was granted. the islands should have been bombed back into the stone age.
if you fly with the crows you get shot with the crows.
13. scottish canuck, Canada / 9:00pm 26 Jul 2007
dammmned it!! some got away!
14. wattie>x 1 / 9:48pm 26 Jul 2007#12> Where did you pick up the garbage you spout about the estimated million dead?
Those who served in the Far East and like myself who were fortunate to have survived
and was waiting to return home, were only too well aware why the bombs were dropped atthat particular time. The Japanese were already defeated and in the process off preparing
for total surrender when the bombs were readily dropped by the US on innocent men
women and children. Their inhuman act was meant as a warning threat to the then Soviet
Union who at the end of the conflict; emerged the stronger military power of the two.
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Union who at the end of the conflict; emerged the stronger military power of the two.
Unknown at the time to the US; the Soviets were also on the verge off possessing andproducing the bomb which was to upset the political ambitions of the US wild men.
15. sandy,, USA land where Jesus has been reborn as G. W. Bush / 10:44pm 26 Jul 2007
The japs were about to become terroriststs thats why we nuked them.
16. Typical Japanse, England / 11:40pm 26 Jul 2007
First of all,please let me say we do apologize that those Japanese guys disturbed Navy.
Actually,they are left wing and idealist who believe communism is the best and only wayfor people. A local police and navy don't have to make them free and arrest them as longas they want.
Please do not allow them to go back to Japan and enter U.K. Don't hesitate to send themto Iraq and show them the 'REAL'.
I was so surprised at this news. Sorry.
17. The Daleks / 5:42am 27 Jul 2007
Agreed #'s 8 and 11.
The country is going under faster than the Titanic, but we've all got to pretend nothing'samiss.
Orwell's Thought Police have come to pass.
18. Allan(handofgod137) / 4:03pm 27 Jul 2007#'s 11 & 17 it's just the hootsmon jurno's showing their true colours(pink and yellow)somany of them seem to be closet leftists they can't bear us pointing out that themulticultural experiment has failed, and it's time to tell the guests to go home. PS if you
read the print version yesterday you'll have noticed that there was no mention on thewebsite of the 2 indian/pakistani men who recieved a derisory 6 years apiece for the
racially motivated knifpoint rape of a prostitute, bet if the racial groupings had been
reversed it would have appeared and commenting would have been allowed.
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