Nagasaki Hibakusha Urges Pursuit of Peace, Not War Preparations

Nagasaki, Aug. 9 (Jiji Press)–A hibakusha survivor of the atomic bombing of the southwestern Japan city of Nagasaki has said that world leaders should work to avoid wars instead of war preparations as she is concerned that global reliance on nuclear deterrence is gaining momentum. Tadako Kawazoe, 82, chair of the A-Bombs Survivors Liaison Council of the Nagasaki Peace Action Center, or Hibakuren, has no memory of the U.S. atomic bombing on Aug. 9, 1945, in the closing days of World War II, because she was only a year old at the time. She has campaigned for peace based on testimonies of and notes taken by her mother and aunt. Kawazoe was being fed lunch by her 16-year-old aunt, who was a student, at her Nagasaki home, located 2.5 kilometers from ground zero, when the blast from the bomb caused the roof and tatami mats of the home to shift. She was not injured, but four relatives, including her grandmother, died in the blast and were found burned. She began working as an elementary school teacher after graduating from university. In 1970, she was invited by a senior colleague to join an association of teachers who survived the atomic bombing. In the association, Kawazoe worked with fellow teachers to create teaching materials for peace education. “We had to make teaching materials from scratch because we did not have any, but that was fun,” she recounted. She became involved in Hibakuren through her activities in the association, and assumed the post of its chair last November. “Actually, I think I am better suited to serve as (Hibakuren’s) secretary-general,” she said. The number of people involved in Hibakuren’s affiliate groups is decreasing year by year due to the aging of hibakusha, she said, adding, “I must do my best while I can still move.” Kawazoe, who has spoken about the experiences of the atomic bombing in Japan and abroad, traveled to the United States in April and May, when the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty review conference was held, to call for nuclear abolition. The conference failed to adopt an outcome document, as in the previous two review meetings, “I felt it was unavoidable, as there is no point to adopting an ambiguous document,” she said. A review conference for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is set to be held in November. But efforts toward nuclear disarmament are facing headwinds, with French President Emmanuel Macron announcing plans to increase his country’s nuclear warhead stockpile, among other developments. “I feel that they are preparing on the assumption that a war will occur, but before anything, I want them to do politics with the prerequisite that wars should not be started,” Kawazoe said of world leaders. “Diplomacy is the only way,” she continued. “We want them to have a friendly relationship, instead of picking fights.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]