TOKYO, November 21. /TASS/. Possession of nuclear weapons is unacceptable for Japan; such arms constitute "the devil’s tool," said Terumi Tanaka, 92, a senior member of the committee of Nihon Hidankyo, the Japanese association of atomic bomb survivors that received the Nobel Peace Prize last year.

"This is incredibly serious. Do they truly intend to defend our country with the devil’s tool?" Kyodo News quoted him as saying, amid growing concerns that the new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, and her cabinet may seek to revise Japan’s long-standing three non-nuclear principles: not possessing, producing, or importing nuclear arms.

Nihon Hidankyo has repeatedly voiced its opposition to the idea, emphasizing that even raising the topic is unacceptable for a nation that remains the world’s only wartime nuclear victim.

On Thursday, Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) began discussions on revising key defense policy documents. The package includes potential changes to the country’s non-nuclear stance, as well as new targets for increased military spending. The LDP’s security research council is expected to consider a broad range of issues: easing restrictions on overseas arms sales, expanding the use of drones, accelerating the development of long-range missiles, and examining whether the Navy should eventually be equipped with nuclear-powered submarines.

Japanese media report that the three non-nuclear principles – upheld by every Japanese prime minister to date and long regarded as politically untouchable – will also come under review. Takaichi has so far stopped short of confirming her commitment to these principles. According to press reports, she is prepared to support lifting at least the ban on importing US nuclear weapons. The possibility of revising the principles was effectively acknowledged by Takayuki Kobayashi, head of the LDP’s political council, who said the matter "will be discussed if necessary."

Atomic bombings in Japan

Japan remains the only country in history to have suffered the wartime use of nuclear weapons. At the end of World War II, the US bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, officially arguing that the attacks were intended to hasten Japan’s surrender. Washington has never acknowledged moral responsibility, insisting that the bombings were justified by "military necessity."

Former US President Joe Biden, who attended the 2023 G7 summit in Hiroshima, and Barack Obama, who in 2016 became the first sitting American president to visit the memorial for the victims, both refrained from offering an apology. Donald Trump did not visit the Hiroshima or Nagasaki memorials, despite invitations extended during his first term (2018-2021) and again during his current second term.