InsideJapan News Network

Survivors of the atomic bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 have expressed their hope that the new president of the US Barack Obama will work towards the goal of a nuclear-free world.

Hideo Tsuchiyama, former president of Nagasaki University, said that no president before Mr Obama seemed as likely to tackle the issue of nuclear weapons in the world.

"I feel his eagerness," he said, adding: "I want him to realise it step-by-step by involving other countries."

Meanwhile, Takashi Morita, an 84-year-old survivor of the Hiroshima, told Japan Today that she hopes to meet the new president one day so she can "directly tell him the feelings of the A-bomb victims".

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists reports that Japan has cooperated with the US on missile defence projects since the 1980s, despite Japan's avowed pacifism.

Some in Japan have advocated even closer cooperation on nuclear matters.


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