Court Rejects Claim against Restaurant Boat near A-Bomb Dome

September 19, 2018

Hiroshima- Hiroshima District Court on Tuesday rejected a petition mainly by hibakusha atomic bomb survivors and local residents to stop a floating oyster restaurant from doing business on a river near the Atomic Bomb Dome.

In the lawsuit, 19 plaintiffs said that operating the restaurant on the Motoyasu River in front of the Atomic Bomb Dome in the western Japan city of Hiroshima violates personal rights, as the river is a resting place for the souls of atomic bomb victims.

The plaintiffs requested the central government to cancel its permission to use the river given to the restaurant operator.

The dome survived the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, near the end of World War II. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The plaintiffs said the restaurant boat violates the World Heritage Convention because it is moored within the buffer zone set for the protection of surrounding areas.

Rejecting the claim, the court said hibakusha survivors and people working to preserve atomic-bombing relics are not qualified to become plaintiffs in the suit.

Six local residents among the plaintiffs are qualified, but there is no serious flaw in the judgement of the land ministry's Chugoku Regional Development Bureau to grant the permission, the court said.

According to the complaint, the boat was previously located some 400 meters downstream from its current position. The central government asked for the removal of the floating restaurant after it crashed into a bridge during a typhoon in 1991.

The boat was moved near the dome after the central government gave the permission in December 2014 as requested by the city of Hiroshima, which viewed the the floating restaurant as a tourism resource. Jiji Press