Hiroshima Prefecture has intensified Japan's nuclear policy debate through a landmark resolution urging the national government to maintain its Three Non-Nuclear Principles. The prefectural assembly unanimously adopted the statement on December 22, 2025, responding to recent security discussions about potentially revising the decades-old framework prohibiting nuclear weapons possession and deployment.
The move follows controversial remarks by a security policy advisor in Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's administration suggesting Japan should consider nuclear armament. Survivors' groups and local officials in Hiroshima – where U.S. atomic bombings killed 140,000 people in 1945 – condemned the proposal as contradicting Japan's postwar pacifist identity.
"As custodians of atomic bombing history, we bear unique responsibility to advance nuclear disarmament," stated the resolution, marking the first formal intervention by Hiroshima or Nagasaki assemblies in current nuclear policy reviews. The document emphasizes Japan's moral leadership in non-proliferation efforts given its wartime experience.
Debate intensifies as the government prepares to revise national security guidelines by late 2026. Liberal Democratic Party security council chair Itsunori Onodera recently called for parliamentary discussion about the principles during a Sunday television appearance, while maintaining that "any changes require careful public consensus."
Analysts note the policy review occurs amid shifting regional security dynamics, with neighboring DPRK advancing its nuclear capabilities. However, surveys show 76% of Japanese citizens oppose nuclear armament, according to 2025 data from the Asahi Shimbun.
