Japan’s Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Group Hidankyo Prepares to Give Lecture; Receives Invitation to December Award Ceremony in Oslo

The Yomiuri Shimbun

12:47 JST, October 17, 2024

This year’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Nihon Hidankyo, or the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, is preparing to send a representative to Oslo to deliver a lecture at the prize ceremony on Dec. 10, for which it has received an invitation from the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

“We are preparing to choose a member to attend the prize ceremony and give a lecture,” said Masako Kudo, a Hidankyo official. The group is likely to announce its choice of representative in November, according to Kudo.

The group’s Tokyo-based secretariat, which represents organizations of Hibakusha (atomic bomb victims) across the nation, received the invitation in an award notification letter in an email from the Nobel committee at around 7 p.m. on Oct. 11, about an hour after the Nobel prize winner was announced.

The letter opens “Dear Laureate, Nihon Hidankyo,” and asks the group to send a representative to the award ceremony to be held at the Oslo City Hall on Dec. 10, and to deliver a lecture lasting up to 20 minutes “as part of the ceremony.” The letter is signed by committee Chair Jorgen Watne Frydnes.

The letter also states that the prize money is 11 million Swedish kronor (approximately ¥160 million), and that a diploma and a gold Nobel Peace Prize medal will be presented to the group’s chosen representative during the ceremony.