Japan's Hiroshima Governor Hidehiko Yuzaki and Mayor Kazumi Matsui on Tuesday criticized Japan Restoration Party leader Shintaro Ishihara for not understanding the necessity of eliminating nuclear weapons after his recent remarks calling on the government to conduct a simulation to assess the potential impact of the country acquiring nuclear weapons, local press said.

Yuzaki told local reporters at a press conference on Tuesday that Ishihara should be prudent in expressing his views as a party leader, referring to his speech on November 20 at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo. Ishihara told foreign journalists that Japan should simulate the possession of nuclear weapons, stressing that the idea is something worth doing although it's not for the country to decide immediately to possess the weapons, or not, according to local media.

The governor asserted that such a simulation cannot serve as a deterrent, urging Ishihara to give careful consideration to " deterrent power" of nuclear weapons.

Meanwhile, the mayor Matsui also expressed at his press meeting held also on Tuesday that Ishihara's statement is the typical idea shown by anyone who wouldn't know the realities of the catastrophe caused by nuclear weapon while admitting that there are many different ideas and views among Japanese politicians. "If Ishihara will visit museums or institutions showing the catastrophe caused by the atomic bombing, he may understand people' s wish for permanent world peace from Hiroshima," the mayor said.