In Nagasaki and Hiroshima, ex-Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma's June 30 comments that the 1945 atomic bombings "could not be helped" because they brought an end to World War II have not only angered survivors but stung Liberal Democratic Party-backed candidates running for the July 29 Upper House election.
The problem is particularly acute in Nagasaki Prefecture, one of the 29 single-seat constituencies crucial to determining the balance of power between the LDP-led ruling coalition and the opposition camp and a priority district for the LDP in the coming poll, given the uproar caused by Kyuma, a Lower House LDP member whose constituency is in the prefecture.
In Nagasaki, prominent high school soccer coach Tadatoshi Komine, 62, was persuaded by Kyuma to run in the July 29 election. He is expected to vie for the district's seat with Democratic Party of Japan candidate Yukishige Okubo, 41, and Eiko Fuchise, 51, of the Japanese Communist Party.