Japan A-Bomb Survivors Pledge to Continue Work Towards World Free of Nuclear Weapons; Nobel Peace Prize Winners Seek to Pass Experiences on to Future Generations

The Yomiuri Shimbun

13:49 JST, October 12, 2024

HIROSHIMA — After winning the Nobel Peace Prize, the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have renewed their pledge to work for a world free of nuclear weapons.

The world has praised Nihon Hidankyo, or the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, in their efforts to record their harrowing experiences of the atomic bombings, and to pass them on to future generations.

“[It’s like] a dream within a dream. It’s incredible,” said Nihon Hidankyo Cochairperson Toshiyuki Mimaki, 82, during a press conference at the Hiroshima city office on Friday. He was at the office while waiting for the announcement of the Nobel prize winner. Right after the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced the name of Nihon Hidankyo, he pinched his cheek and shed tears.

Mimaki was 3 years old when an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima at 8:15 a.m. on Aug. 6, 1945. He and his family had been evacuated from Tokyo, which was being bombed, to Hiroshima, where his father’s family lived.

Mimaki said the atomic bombing was like a lightning strike, and everything in front of him flashed.

In the afternoon, when he saw people with tattered clothes coming to the house where he was staying, he became frightened and hid in his house. He then went to the center of the city of Hiroshima with his mother and younger brother to look for his father, who worked at Hiroshima Station, where he was exposed to the atomic bomb.

Mimaki has continued to call for the abolition of nuclear weapons. Last November, he traveled to New York for an event where he spoke about his experience.

As the long-standing activities of Nihon Hidankyo, including his own, were honored with the Nobel Peace Prize, he showed his delight at the press conference, saying, “I feel like I’ve hit a grand slam.”

Referring to Russian aggression in Ukraine and the fighting in the Gaza Strip, he stressed that his group would “refine its activities to appeal for the realization of a lasting peace.” He then called on the government to consider signing and ratifying the Nuclear Weapons Convention.