Takaichi Stays Cautious as Hiroshima and Nagasaki Mayors Seek Observer Role at Nuclear Ban Treaty Review

Photo: Jakub Hałun, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 (file photo, 2024). The Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima; not from the meeting.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Friday, Oct. 30, held to a cautious line on the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons when the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki asked her to send an observer to the pact’s first review conference. Takaichi and the nuclear ban treaty question came up at a meeting with Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui and Nagasaki Mayor Shiro Suzuki at the prime minister’s office in Tokyo, Jiji Press reported.

The mayors handed Takaichi a written request for Japan to take part as an observer in the treaty’s first review meeting in November. “We need to consider what would be effective for ensuring Japan’s security and advancing nuclear disarmament,” Takaichi said during the meeting, according to Jiji.

What the mayors asked for

The review conference opens Nov. 30 at United Nations headquarters in New York, the Nishinippon Shimbun reported. Besides observer status, the mayors asked Japan to sign and ratify the treaty, which bans the development, possession and use of nuclear weapons. Japan, which relies on the U.S. nuclear umbrella for its defense, has not signed it.

The mayors also urged the government to keep Japan’s three non-nuclear principles: not possessing, not producing and not permitting the introduction of nuclear weapons. Jiji reported that Takaichi “seems eager to review” those principles; The Boston Report attributes that assessment to Jiji, and Takaichi did not state it at the meeting.

Takaichi’s response

According to the two mayors, who spoke to reporters afterward, Takaichi said that given Japan’s security environment and approaches to making real progress on disarmament, the country needs to respond cautiously to the treaty, the Nishinippon Shimbun reported. The mayors said she made no reference to the three non-nuclear principles.

Takaichi avoided a direct answer on the principles, instead saying that leading international efforts toward a world without nuclear weapons is a mission for Japan as the only country to have been attacked with nuclear weapons in war, Jiji reported.

Suzuki told reporters he was honestly disappointed that the prime minister had offered nothing new, according to the Nishinippon Shimbun’s Japanese-language report, translated by The Boston Report. He called the non-nuclear principles a national policy and the product of historic decisions by past governments, and restated his opposition to revising them. It was the mayors’ first meeting with the prime minister since April, the paper said.

Hiroshima broadcaster RCC reported that Takaichi’s answer matched the government’s previous position, and that the written request called for Japan to sign and ratify the treaty “as soon as possible.” Matsui, who had only just returned to official duties, also defended the non-nuclear principles. “The three non-nuclear principles are a resolution of our entire nation. In a sense, they went through the procedures for a resolution second in importance only to the Constitution, so I strongly hope the government will continue to cherish them,” he said, according to RCC, translated by The Boston Report. The two cities said they would keep pressing their case, the broadcaster reported.

The meeting at a glance

Why it matters

Hiroshima and Nagasaki, destroyed by U.S. atomic bombs in August 1945, have long pressed Tokyo to join the treaty, while successive Japanese governments have argued that it does not include the nuclear-armed states and could conflict with reliance on U.S. extended deterrence. The review conference will be the first formal stocktaking among the treaty’s parties.

The question of Japan’s nuclear stance is also tied to the wider security picture in Northeast Asia, where North Korea continues to expand its weapons programs. For related coverage, see TBR’s report on Kim Jong Un’s drone demands and Chinese drills near disputed shoals, and on the Binance theft tied to North Korea.

Japan’s decision on whether to send an observer is expected before the conference opens on Nov. 30. The Prime Minister’s Office listed the courtesy call on its official schedule, and Japanese broadcasters including TBS also reported on the meeting.

Sources

• Jiji Press (via Nippon.com): PM Takaichi reiterates cautious stance toward nuclear ban treaty
• Nishinippon Shimbun (Japanese): Hiroshima and Nagasaki mayors meet Takaichi
• Prime Minister’s Office of Japan: courtesy call, Oct. 30, 2026

Additional sources

• TBS News Dig (Japanese)
• RCC Broadcasting (Japanese)