A ship chartered by Japan-based Peace Boat, a nongovernmental organization that works closely with the Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), left Yokohama on Monday for an extended tour of Asia and Oceania.
People on board the ship will promote nuclear disarmament in eight nations including the Philippines and Australia, through March. Terumi Tanaka, co-chair of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo), is among those on board.
"Grass-roots lobbying is an important activity. I am looking forward to meeting people from various towns in the countries we will visit," said Tanaka, who is participating in his first Peace Boat tour.
On the side of the boat will be the logo for ICAN, a coalition of around 470 NGOs from more than 100 countries. Akira Kawasaki, a member of ICAN's international steering committee, said, "We must work toward realizing the goal of putting the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons into effect."
The treaty was passed by 122 U.N. members last July but has not taken force. None of the nuclear weapon states or countries relying on nuclear deterrence, including Japan, endorsed the treaty.