A-bomb Anniversaries: Real Voices of Victims Need to Be Conveyed

Editorial

15:36 JST, August 7, 2024

Seventy-nine years have passed since the atomic bombings, and there is not much time left to hear the voices of the survivors.

How to convey the reality of the harm suffered to the international community and pass along such information to future generations is a serious issue for Japan, the only country to have experienced atomic bombings.

A ceremony was held at Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima City on Aug. 6, attended by ambassadors and other representatives from 109 countries. Another memorial event will be held in Nagasaki City on Aug. 9.

The average age of atomic bomb survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki is over 85.

In 2012, the Hiroshima municipal government began a program to ask people who can speak about their atomic bomb experiences to serve as “witnesses.” Although nearly 50 people have acted as witnesses, the number has now decreased to 32 due to illnesses or deaths.

For this reason, starting next year, the city government plans to place at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and elsewhere devices with video and audio recordings in which atomic bomb survivors recount their various experiences.

When visitors ask questions, artificial intelligence will select relevant content from among the many audio and other recordings of atomic bomb survivors and play it on the devices. This is a measure to prepare for an era in which visitors will no longer be able to meet with atomic bomb survivors face-to-face.

It is important not only to pass on to future generations in Japan how atrocious the use of nuclear weapons is, but also to convey this message to many other countries. To this end, it is necessary to translate the voices of the survivors into various languages and make the devices available to foreign visitors as well.

Last year, a summit of the Group of Seven advanced nations was held in Hiroshima City, and the Hiroshima Vision was adopted with the goal of achieving a “world without nuclear weapons.”

Since then, however, Russia has been threatening to use nuclear weapons in its aggression against Ukraine, and China has continued to increase its nuclear arsenal. Many believe that North Korea also has the capability for a nuclear attack.

Enhancing nuclear capabilities is not the only danger. What is more serious is the growing tendency to think of nuclear weapons as “weapons that can be used.”

Even though the ideal of nuclear abolition has been set forth, there are real threats that cannot be dealt with. As long as this is the reality, it is necessary to strengthen defense capabilities. The credibility of U.S. extended deterrence, in which the United States protects Japan with forces that include the U.S. nuclear umbrella, must also be enhanced.

At the same time, it is important to make the leaders of nuclear powers aware of how much devastation the use of nuclear weapons could cause to their own countries as well.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who attended the Aug. 6 ceremony, said that Japan will “lead the international community, with a view to building momentum … for nuclear disarmament.” However, are sufficient efforts being made to achieve this goal?

It would be effective to ask atomic bomb survivors to attend a U.N. General Assembly meeting and various international conferences while they are still able to be active, so that they can speak directly to dignitaries from various countries about the horror of the damage caused by nuclear weapons.

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Aug. 7, 2024)