Hiroshima Gov. Hidehiko Yuzaki and Mayor Kazumi Matsui on Tuesday condemned remarks by Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party) leader Shintaro Ishihara that the government should conduct a simulation to assess the potential impact of the country acquiring nuclear weapons.
Yuzaki told a news conference that Ishihara should be cautious in expressing his views as a political party leader, referring to his comments last week that Japan "should carry out a simulation concerning nuclear weapons. That would be a deterrent."
Ishihara should think about how or if nuclear deterrence works, and that such a simulation would not be a deterrent, Yuzaki said.
Matsui urged Ishihara to visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum to study the city's suffering from the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing.