Global Risk and Crisis Management Program
Prime Minister Kishida’s “Ideal” and “Reality”: How should we think about a world without nuclear weapons? [in Japanese]
DateDecember 1, 2022
BibliographyAsahi Shimbun
Summary On December 1, 2022, an article of an interview with Professor Nobumasa Akiyama, Dean of the School of International a­nd Public Policy at Hitotsubashi University, was published in Asahi Shimbun's “Considering the Future of the Security Treaty” interview series. Professor Akiyama praised Prime Minister Kishida for attending the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference but noted that further contributions by Japan are necessary in the pursuit of nuclear disarmament. In particular, he discussed how Japan should act to achieve nuclear disarmament in the face of Russia's nuclear threat to Ukraine, which has made a “world without nuclear weapons” seemingly far off in the future. Furthermore, Professor Akiyama expressed his views on how to link the “ideal” of a nuclear-free world a­nd the “reality” of a deteriorating security environment. He then proposed goals on nuclear issues that Japan should pursue in the international conferences to be held in the country in the future.