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Anti-nuclear signature

campaigns grow in Japan

TOKYO: Inspired by activists in other Pacific countries, Japanese anti-nuclear groups are reporting growing public opposition to France's planned resumption of nuclear weapons tests in the South Pacific next month.

Environmentalist group Greenpeace International said on Saturday it had collected 452,672 protest signatures at its Japanese branch. These include 158 members of parliament, as well as prominent writers and film directors, it said.

Although Japan has condemned in parliament both France and China, which exploded its second nuclear device this year earlier this month, it has so far been one of the quietest of the Pacific nations complaining about nuclear tests.

Street protest has been minimal, confined to several dozen demonstrators outside the French and Chinese embassies, in sharp contrast to Australia and New Zealand where protesters scuffled with police and a French consulate was attacked.

But images of the overseas protests and the anniversaries of the world's first atomic bombings, on Japan, have sharply raised public conciousness in the past few weeks.

"I think it's been touched off by the sight of anti-nuclear protesters in Australia and New Zealand," said Kazue Suzuki, a Greenpeace spokeswoman.-Reuter