Abstract

  In Japan, local governments began to declare themselves free of nuclear weapons and free of nuclear weapons disposal in the 1980s. While it is noted that the Cold War and the anti-nuclear movement in Europe contributed to this growth, the phenomenon of many local governments in Japan introducing declarations of nuclear-weapon-free cities was made possible by the groundwork laid in the 1980s which facilitated the adoption process.

  In Kitakyushu City, the issue of the Yamada Ammunition Depot constituted a significant motivating factor for the robust endorsement of the non-nuclear municipal declaration. Moreover, the declaration played a pivotal role in enhancing awareness among citizens and city council members regarding the significance of such local issues. The non-nuclear municipal declaration is not merely aimed at the abolition of nuclear weapons; rather, it represents a bidirectional political phenomenon that politically connects various local issues and allows these issues to influence the development of the declaration itself. Thus, the non-nuclear municipal declaration was pursued with the objective of achieving a non-nuclear status, as well as functioning as a political phenomenon capable of intertwining the various challenges faced by each locality.