Kirk here, posting a photo I took almost a month ago near the Prefectural Building (Kencho). It is of a monument to the Kumamoto Prefectural Assembly’s 2001 resolution (in March, before 9/11) calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons and the promotion of world peace. Personally, I strongly agree that nuclear weapons are accidents waiting to happen and that we human beings need to do what we can to reduce and eventually eliminate nuclear weapons before they are used again. I was slightly surprised, though, that Kumamoto’s government had passed such a resolution. It’s my impression that Kumamoto tends to be rather conservative (strong support for the LDP, etc.). As many of you probably know the national leadership of the LDP (including the current Prime Minister, who is from Hiroshima) have not been willing to take the risk of upsetting the United States by signing the UN’s treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons. Here’s a list of current signers: https://treaties.unoda.org/t/tpnw
So, it seems that the Kumamoto government is more progressive on this issue. In 2009, the prefecture called upon the national government to put pressure on the U.S., China, and Russia (and other nuclear powers) to more toward the abolition of nuclear weapons:
https://www.pref.kumamoto.jp/uploaded/attachment/59552.pdf
Of course, current events make the need to get rid of nukes all that much clearer. I don’t think the continuation of humanity can be trusted to the sanity of whatever hypermasculine character happens to be at the head of a country that has nuclear weapons.