Japanese students petition to abolish nuclear arms

So far the group, consisting of more than 10 students, have collected some 3,500 signatures since last summer in their free time on weekends and mainly in the busy, youthful districts like Harajuku in central Tokyo.

The students ultimately aim to collect 10,000 signatures to support their non-nuclear cause.

Yuma Nishinohara, 17, who is among the students planning to go to the review conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in May in New York and submit the petition said, "It is hard and we need courage to collect signatures. But I want to do my best to help abolish nuclear arms. I want to ask high school students in the United States if the nuclear bombings were right."

Nishinohara, along with some of her peers also plans to visit a number of US high schools to gauge and discuss the sentiments and opinions of her US peers; Kazinform cites China Daily. See www.chinadaily.com.cn for full version.