An Open Letter to People of Japan from Concerned Peace Organizations and Citizens of the United States in Observance of the 80th Anniversary of the Atomic Bombings in Japan

We, the undersigned, representing a coalition of concerned peace and civil society organizations in the United States, are advocating for the elimination of nuclear weapons globally. We join to express our profound regrets and apologies for our nation’s atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Although our government has not apologized officially for this horror, we would like to extend our deepest condolences to the atomic bomb survivors (hibakusha) and descendants of hibakusha, as well as all those impacted by the U.S. nuclear testing, who have endured great mental and physical hardships for decades. May you and the generations behind you continue to heal, speak truth to power, and walk towards justice.

Given that 80 years have passed since the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and, four years since the entry-into-force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), we might have expected that the threat of nuclear annihilation would have greatly diminished by now. But that is not the case. The Doomsday Clock of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists places us at 89 seconds to midnight, the closest it has been since the launching of the clock in 1947.

Consider, for example, the many times during wars and international crises that the U.S. has prepared and threatened first strike nuclear attacks, the threat of the use of nuclear weapons by Russia in its years-long war with Ukraine, or the attacks by covertly nuclear-armed Israel on Iran since June, with no intervention by European nations or the U.S. to stop the escalating war there.

The Trump administration has also ordered an increase in the National Nuclear Security Administration’s budget from $19 billion this year to roughly $25 billion in the 2026 fiscal year, a rise of 29%. Its intent is to modernize the nation’s nuclear arsenal and “protect the American people.” It is said that the weapons budget supports “a safe, secure, reliable and effective” stockpile, but we know this will only bring us closer to catastrophe whether accidentally or intentionally. The nuclear arms budget would fund work on “six simultaneous warhead modernization programs,” including a nuclear sea-launched cruise missile, nuclear propulsion systems for the U.S. Navy, and upgraded nuclear sites throughout the science and production complex, none of which will make us “safe” or “secure.”

Compounding this U.S. nuclear escalation, the other eight nuclear-armed nations have gone ahead with modernization of their nuclear programs. Some of the countries have added a large number of nuclear-armed bombs and missiles, are upgrading their existing weapons, and are developing newer and more lethal versions.

In addition, fourteen years since the beginning of the Fukushima-Daiichi power plant disaster, and two years after the beginning of the dumping of 1.3 million metric tons of radioactive wastewater from the nuclear site into the Pacific Ocean, U.S. President Donald Trump has signed a series of executive orders titled “Reinvigorating the Nuclear Industrial Base,” “Reforming Nuclear Reactor Testing at the Department of Energy,” and “Ordering the Reform of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission,” with the goal of "re-establishing the United States as the global leader in nuclear energy.” Ignoring the enormous mental and radioactive harm done to the hibakusha who survived Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and to the Indigenous Peoples in the Pacific and the United States caused by nuclear testing and uranium activities, the United States now proposes to vastly increase the possibility of nuclear disaster through new nuclear reactors. The use of nuclear technology - whether military or civilian - comes with enormous risks and incalculable consequences; it is not a solution to our world’s climate crisis, it undermines democracy, and it is not economically viable. Effective global nuclear disarmament will not be possible as long as we continue to allow the commercial use of plutonium and highly enriched uranium.

We, the signers of this letter, are deeply ashamed of the actions of the United States and other nuclear-armed nations (including Israel) who continue to increase the likelihood of a nuclear-powered disaster, either through nuclear war or as a result of disasters at nuclear sites.

The only alternative to such catastrophes is that we come together, as we do outside the Japanese Consulate in New York City, to recall and repent for the U.S. crimes against humanity that were the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and to demand that all nuclear weapons manufacturing plants be shut down and all nuclear weapons be abolished. All people must know of this horrific history and do all in our power to end the increasing threat of worse nuclear catastrophes in the months and years to come.

No more Hiroshima, No more Nagasaki,
No more Fukushima, No more War,
No more Hibakusha, Never Again!

August 5, 2025

Endorsed by the following US organizations
representing in total over 323,000 members and supporters:

Veterans for Peace - NYC Chapter 34
Manhattan Project for a Nuclear-Free World
Bronx United Progressives
Brooklyn For Peace
Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security
Catholic Worker
Coalition for Peace Action
CODEPINK
Daughters of Wisdom, US Delegation
East Bay Citizens for Peace
Friends of Ben Salmon
Genesee Valley Citizens for Peace
Greater New Haven (CT) Peace Council
Hawaii Peace and Justice
Heiwa Peace and Reconciliation Foundation of New York
Judson Memorial Church
Long Island Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives
Malu 'Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action
Maui Peace Action
National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee
New Jersey Peace Action
NJ Peace Action
No War Westchester
North Country Peace Group
NuclearBan.US
NY Metro Committees of Correspondence for Democracy & Socialism
NYC Metro Raging Grannies
NYC War Resisters League
NYCAN - the New York Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
Oregon Community peace fund
Park Slope United Methodist Church Social Action Committee
Pax Christi Dallas
Pax Christi Hawaii Chapter
Pax Christi Maine
Pax Christi Metro New York
Pax Christi New York State
Pax Christi USA
Pax Christi USA Quad Cities
Peace Action Bay Ridge
Peace Action
Peace Action Maine
Peace Action Network of Lancaster Pennsylvania
Peace Action New York State
Peace Action of San Mateo County
Peace Action WI
Peace and Social Justice Committee of Fifteenth Street Friends Meeting (Quakers)
Peace Justice Sustainability NOW
Peoples Climate Movement - NY
Ramapo Mountain Indians
September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows
South Country Peace Group, Inc.
Syracuse Peace Council
The United Methodist Church - General Board of Church and Society
The World Can't Wait
Tiffin Area Pax Christi
United for Peace & Justice
Upper Hudson Peace Action
UPROSE
Upstate Drone Action
Utah Campaign to Abolish Nuclearism
Vecinos Unidos (Hartford, CT)
Veterans For Peace Chapter 113-Hawaii
Vinalhaven Discussion Group
WESPAC Foundation, Inc.
Western States Legal Foundation

核問題に憂慮する米国の市民ならびに米国の平和団体から日本の市民への公開書簡
—日本に対する原爆投下から80周年という節目を迎えて—

私たちは核問題に憂慮する米国の平和団体や市民社会を代表し、世界中の核兵器廃絶を訴えています。我が国による広島と長崎への原爆投下に対し、深い遺憾の意とお詫びを表すために集まりました。我が国はこの残虐行為について公式に謝罪していませんが、何十年にもわたって多大な精神的・肉体的苦痛を受忍させられた原爆被爆者の方々と子孫の方々、そして米国の核実験の影響を受けたすべての方々に、私たちは心からの哀悼の意を表したいと思います。皆さまと、皆さまのご子孫が、苦悩から解放され、権力に対して声をあげ、正義に向かって前進しますよう願っています。

米国による広島と長崎への原爆投下から80年、そして核兵器禁止条約（TPNW）発効から4年が経過したことを考えると、今頃には核による絶滅の脅威が大きく減少していたはずだと期待していたかもしれません。しかし、現実はそうではありません。原子力科学者会報の終末時計は、午前0時まであと89秒を示しており、1947年に時計が設置されて以来、人類滅亡に最も近い時刻となっています。

例えば、戦争や国際危機の際に米国が何度も先制核攻撃を準備し威嚇したこと、長年にわたるウクライナとの戦争でロシアが核兵器使用の威嚇をしたこと、あるいは秘密裏に核武装しているイスラエルが6月以来イランに対して攻撃を行っていることに対し、これらの戦争の激化を止めるために欧州諸国や米国が介入することはありませんでした。

またトランプ政権は、国家核安全保障局（NNSA）の予算を今年の190億ドルから2026年度には約250億ドルへと29%増額するよう命じました。その目的は、国の核兵器を近代化し「米国市民を守る」ためと言っています。兵器予算は「安全で、安心で、信頼性が高く、効果的な」核兵器備蓄を支えるものだと言っていますが、これは偶然であれ意図的であれ、私達を破滅に近づけるだけだということを私達は知っています。核兵器予算は、核海上発射巡航ミサイル、米海軍の原子力潜水艦システム、科学生産複合施設全体の核施設の改修など、「6つの同時弾頭近代化プログラム」の作業に資金を提供する予定ですが、いずれも私達に「安全」または「安心」を与えるものではありません。

米国の核の拡大に拍車をかけるように、他の8つの核兵器保有国は核開発計画の近代化を進めています。一部の国は、核爆弾や核ミサイルを大量に追加し、既存の兵器を改良し、より新しくより致死性の高い兵器を開発しています。

さらに、福島第一原子力発電所核惨事から14年、130万トンの放射性汚染水の太平洋投棄から2年が経ち、ドナルド・トランプ米大統領は「米国を原子力エネルギーの世界的リーダーとして再建する」ことを目標に、「原子力産業基盤の再活性化」、「エネルギー省の原子炉試験改革」、「原子力規制委員会の改革命令」と題する一連の大統領令に署名しました。

広島と長崎の原爆を生き延びた被爆者の方々と、核実験とウラン採掘による太平洋諸国及び米国の先住民の方々に与えられた甚大な精神的・放射能被害を無視し、米国は新たな原子炉によって核災害の可能性を大幅に増強することを提案しています。核技術の使用は、軍事用であれ商業用であれ、莫大なリスクと計り知れない結果を伴います。それは世界の気候危機に対する解決にならないばかりか、民主主義を損ない、経済的にも現実的ではありません。プルトニウムと高濃縮ウランの商業利用を認め続ける限り、効果的な世界的核軍縮は不可能でしょう。

この書簡の署名者である私たちは、核戦争や核施設の災害の結果として、原子力災害の可能性を増大し続けている米国およびその他の核保有国（イスラエルを含む）の行為を深く恥じています。

このような大惨事を回避する唯一の方法は、ニューヨーク市の日本領事館の前で私たちが行っているように、私たちが団結して、米国の人道に対する罪である広島と長崎への原爆投下を思い起こし、悔い改め、すべての核兵器製造工場の閉鎖とすべての核兵器の廃絶を要求することです。すべての人々はこの恐ろしい歴史を知り、今後数か月や数年の間にさらに悲惨な核災害の脅威が増大する可能性を阻止するために、全力を尽くさなければなりません。

ノーモア ヒロシマ、 ノーモア ナガサキ、
ノーモア フクシマ、 ノーモア ウォー、
ノーモア ヒバクシャ、 絶対に二度と！

2025年8月5日

• 米国の賛同団体 •
(計323,000人以上の会員や支援者を代表)

ベテランズ・フォー・ピースNY支部
（Veterans For Peace - NYC Chapter 34）
核の無い世界のための
マンハッタンプロジェクト
（Manhattan Project for a Nuclear-Free World）

Bronx United Progressives
Brooklyn For Peace
Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security
Catholic Worker
Coalition for Peace Action
CODEPINK
Daughters of Wisdom, US Delegation
East Bay Citizens for Peace
Friends of Ben Salmon
Genesee Valley Citizens for Peace
Greater New Haven (CT) Peace Council
Hawaii Peace and Justice
Heiwa Peace and Reconciliation Foundation of New York
Judson Memorial Church
Long Island Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives
Malu 'Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action
Maui Peace Action
National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee
New Jersey Peace Action
NJ Peace Action
No War Westchester
North Country Peace Group
NuclearBan.US
NY Metro Committees of Correspondence for Democracy & Socialism
NYC Metro Raging Grannies
NYC War Resisters League
NYCAN - the New York Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
Oregon Community peace fund
Park Slope United Methodist Church Social Action Committee
Pax Christi Dallas
Pax Christi Hawaii Chapter
Pax Christi Maine
Pax Christi Metro New York
Pax Christi New York State
Pax Christi USA
Pax Christi USA Quad Cities
Peace Action Bay Ridge
Peace Action
Peace Action Maine
Peace Action Network of Lancaster Pennsylvania
Peace Action New York State
Peace Action of San Mateo County
Peace Action WI
Peace and Social Justice Committee of Fifteenth Street Friends Meeting (Quakers)
Peace Justice Sustainability NOW
Peoples Climate Movement - NY
Ramapo Mountain Indians
September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows
South Country Peace Group, Inc.
Syracuse Peace Council
The United Methodist Church - General Board of Church and Society
The World Can't Wait
Tiffin Area Pax Christi
United for Peace & Justice
Upper Hudson Peace Action
UPROSE
Upstate Drone Action
Utah Campaign to Abolish Nuclearism
Vecinos Unidos (Hartford, CT)
Veterans For Peace Chapter 113-Hawaii
Vinalhaven Discussion Group
WESPAC Foundation, Inc.
Western States Legal Foundation


Contact Info:
Veterans For Peace - NYC Chapter 34
8062 214th Street
Queens Village, NY 11427