Hibakusha, Activists Vow to Press for Nuclear Abolition

Tokyo, Jan. 22 (Jiji Press)–With Thursday marking the fifth anniversary of the effectuation of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, hibakusha atomic bomb survivors and antinuclear advocates pledged to build momentum toward the abolition of nuclear arms. “This year, we are committed to building the movement (for nuclear abolition) and energizing the treaty,” Terumi Tanaka, 93, co-chair of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, or Nihon Hidankyo, which won the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize, said at an event held in Tokyo the same day. “We want to step up the campaign urging the Japanese government to sign the treaty soon,” he also said. Participants also included Suzuka Nakamura, 25, whose grandmother is a hibakusha. “I will work to lay the foundation of peace activities when we mark the centennial of the atomic bombings,” she said. Nakamura began her peace activities when she was a high school student. Japan is the only country to have suffered nuclear attacks, with the western city of Hiroshima and the southwestern city of Nagasaki devastated by U.S. atomic bombs in August 1945, in the closing days of World War II. In a video message, Setsuko Thurlow, 94, who survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and now lives in Canada, recalled the nuclear prohibition treaty’s entry into force as “a joy beyond words.” “With the return of U.S. President Donald Trump, respect for the rule of law is being ignored, and it makes me fearful,” she said. “We must keep working for nuclear abolition precisely because the world feels dark.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]