Staff writer OSAKA -- Last year, Robert Ludan, U.S. consul general for the Osaka-Kobe region, began pursuing an issue that had lain dormant for 25 years: U.S. naval visits to Kobe.
In 1975, the Kobe Municipal Assembly passed a unanimous resolution requiring visiting warships to declare they were not carrying nuclear weapons. The United States, citing its policy of neither confirming nor denying the existence of such arms, refused to comply and none of its warships has visited since.
The Kobe Declaration is an irritant for the U.S. and is politically sensitive for local and national politicians.