The Soka Gakkai Student Division in Japan, consisting of college students, conducted a nationwide peace awareness survey in Fall of 2022. Garnering responses from 1,734 students and youth, the survey included questions related to the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, and individual actions for peace. According to the survey results, 63.2% of respondents think about the nuclear weapons issue often or sometimes in their daily life, demonstrating that the awareness on this issue is relatively high among the current students and young people. In addition, 91.6% answered that nuclear weapons must never be used, while 68.3% answered that they are unsure if abolishing nuclear weapons would be possible, or that they think it is impossible to achieve nuclear abolition.

Ryo Oshiba, Director of the Hiroshima Peace Institute, commented, “It is valuable to continue the assessment of how the thinking about nuclear abolition and peace has shifted among the younger generation from a long-term perspective, and the survey which Soka Gakkai has conducted over the years is a significant contribution to the peace studies.” He also referred to the Hiroshima G7 Summit to be held in May 2023 and called for advancing the discussion for the abolition of nuclear weapons further.

Highlights of the survey results are available in Japanese on the Hiroshima Peace Voice website.

In addition to conducting its peace awareness survey, the Soka Gakkai Student Division closely follows and participates in nuclear abolition advocacy. For example, on 3 December 2022, approximately 3,000 Student Division members gathered from all the regions of Japan at Soka University’s Ikeda Auditorium. The organization announced the Declaration for Peace toward 2030, and participants shared their resolve to lead the movement for the total abolition of nuclear weapons.