Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi gave a nebulous reaction today to a subcritical nuclear test planned to be conducted soon in the United States, only saying the issue should be regarded in the light of the international move toward nuclear disarmament.
"I know there is an international understanding that the test is not interpreted as a nuclear explosion," enabling it to clear the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, Koizumi told reporters at his official residence.
The plan by the US and Britain to jointly conduct a subcritical nuclear test at an underground test site in Nevada today was announced by the US Energy Department.
Mr Koizumi's comments followed a similarly vague reaction by top Japanese government spokesman Yasuo Fukuda.
"Japan would never recommend such a test," Chief Cabinet Secretary Fukuda told reporters, "but we cannot say no to all such tests, either."
"If such tests are banned, it's possible that any country could demand that the world allows it to conduct a real test," Mr Fukuda said.
There was anger from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the two cities that were hit by US atomic bombs in 1945.
Sunao Tsuboi, a survivor of the bombing of Hiroshima and organizer of an antinuclear movement, said, "I'm worried that this test could encourage Israel and North Korea, which are believed to be undeclared nuclear powers, as well as the declared nuclear powers, to carry out similar tests."
Nagasaki Gov. Genjiro Kaneko sent letters to US and British embassies in Tokyo urging the countries to stop subcritical nuclear tests, officials of the prefectural government said. AP