Masashi Ishibashi was Chair of the Japan Socialist Party in the mid-1980s. He describes the growing sense of disgust in Japan after the war as the import of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings became more evident. Against that background, the Japanese government could not adopt a nuclear weapons program, he says. More controversial was the notion of civilian uses of atomic energy, which his party eventually endorsed. Discussing Japans role in the anti-nuclear movement, he recalls a number of key events including the transit of U.S. Navy nuclear vessels through Japanese waters, and the Chinese nuclear test of 1964. The Socialist Party, he notes, was split over the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1968, but he has been deeply concerned personally about proliferation and believes strongly that it is unacceptable to rely on nuclear arms for security. He believes that the Three Non-Nuclear Principles, adopted by the Diet in the late 1960s, are not strong enough, and that the public is being lied to about the admittance of nuclear vessels into Japanese waters. He opposes the idea of Japan being covered by the U.S. nuclear umbrella and worries that the construction of U.S. bases and signing of military agreements may expose Japan to attacks by enemies of the United States.
