G8 petitions delivered by Japan today.

Total petition signatures collected: 7,310

FTTJ would like to announce that submission to the Japanese petition to invite the Dalai Lama to the G8 for talks with China ended today, June 23rd. First of all, we would like to thank all of you who helped us by creating a wave of support from throughout Japan to the world to in order to spread the word and stress the urgent need to stop the brutality in Tibet.

There were countless members of public who worked tirelessly and selflessly to collect the petitions at various gatherings, on the street, and on the internet, etc.

Photo1: With Lhakpa Tshoko, representative of the liaison office of H. H. the Dalai Lama in Japan and East Asia, after counting all 7310 petitions.
Photo2: We filed all petitions with a noticeable G8 action label

The paper petitions collected in Japan were put into three file holders and delivered to House of Representatives member Takeo Hiranuma’s secretary, Mrs. Inubushi. The files were then taken within the same building by Mrs. Inubushi to Prime Minister Fukuda’s policy secretary.

At 12:08 PM, Mrs. Inubushi called to confirm that the petitions had been delivered.

We are delighted to be able to share with you that all of the paper petitions were successfully delivered to Prime Minister Fukuda where they will receive attention by the proper office.

FTTJ would like to express special thanks to The Tibet House of Japan who kindly offered to collect petitions in paper format. FTTJ would also like to thank Takeo Hiranuma the members of the House of Representatives and his secretary Mrs. Inubushi for their understanding in the Tibet issue and for becoming a bridge for us to deliver the petitions directly to Prime Minister Fukuda. A member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Hiranuma was appointed to the position of Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry in 2001 by former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of the Liberal Democratic Party during his time in office.

Website: http://www.hiranuma.org/english/

Mr. Hiranuma refused to support the Prime Minister’s plans to privatize the Japanese Postal system and as a result was no longer endorsed by his party during September 11, 2005 election. Nevertheless, he was reelected. Mr. Hiranuma has been an influential political figure who is not afraid to voice his opinions in public on issues such as human rights or abductions by the North Korean’ government. FTTJ had approached him earlier seeking advice on how to deliver the petitions directly to Prime Minister Fukuda. Mr. Hiranuma kindly responded to us the following day and said that he would help arrange delivery to Prime Minister Fukuda’s office via his own secretary.

Photo: Mr. Hiranuma was absent at the time of our visit to his office, so we have taken a photo of an famous political cartoon over looking the Prime Minister’s office (his bold attitude towards challenging the existing political system has earned him the nickname of “the Samurai”).

We were also quite amused at the bizarre cooincidence that the number of petitions delivered and the phone for Mr. Hiranuma’s office shared the same set of digits, 7310.

We at FTTJ will continue to press all of the G8 leaders and sherpas until the summit begins. The UK Government e-petitions are open until the 29th of this month. Please continue to share this information to your friends and families so that Tibet can receive the urgent attention it needs right now.

- Immediately admitting foreign media into Tibet
- Allowing the International Red Cross and other humanitarian
organizations into Tibet
- Permit UN investigators to enter and conduct investigations in Tibet
- Stopping its vilification of the Dalai Lama
- Releasing all who were detained since the 10th of March
- Stopping its crackdown and withdraw armed security forces
- Stopping its forced nationalistic re-education campaign

Thank you !