Japan expresses support for Obama's 'nuclear-free world'+

TOKYO, April 6 Kyodo -
The Japanese government expressed strong support Monday for U.S. President
Barack Obama laying out an ambitious vision for a world without nuclear
weapons.

''It is a good thing,'' Prime Minister Taro Aso told reporters. ''It is an
extremely good trend for a country that possesses nuclear weapons to seriously
pursue this, particularly for the United States.''
Aso also expressed the view that the direction indicated by Obama matches that
taken by the Japanese government, saying, ''Japan is one of a handful of
countries that have consistently called for nuclear disarmament.''
Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura also said earlier Japan has ''strongly
sought'' nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation, which were expressed in
Obama's speech given in Prague on Sunday.
''As the only nation which went through nuclear bombings, Japan has sought
nuclear powers' efforts for nuclear disarmament,'' the top Japanese government
spokesman said.
''The Japanese government strongly hopes that President Obama's call will
foster momentum for nuclear disarmament on a global level that includes the
participation of other nuclear-weapon states,'' he said.
Kawamura added Japan aims to continue strengthening cooperation with the global
community to achieve a nuclear-free world and the success of the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty review in 2010.
Meanwhile in Hiroshima, one of two Japanese cities where the U.S. military
dropped nuclear bombs in 1945, atomic-bomb survivors welcomed the U.S. leader's
speech as a ''historic transformation.''
Kazushi Kaneko, director general of the Hiroshima Council of A-Bomb Sufferers
Organizations, said Obama's vision is ''extremely welcome,'' but noted that
realizing it would take a long time.
''We atomic-bomb sufferers must exert power to further promote international
opinion'' on the matter, Kaneko said as he gathered signatures in the western
Japanese city in a bid to call for the elimination of nuclear arms.
Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba told a press conference Monday that the speech
was ''meaningful'' in that the United States clearly acknowledged that it is
''in itself involved in nuclear disarmament.''
In his speech Sunday in the Czech capital, Obama said the United States will
take the lead in seeking a world without nuclear weapons as the only country
that has used one.
==Kyodo