‘Listen to Hibakusha’ Says Norwegian Nobel Committee Chair during N-Weapons Disarmament Event in Tokyo

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:13 JST, July 28, 2025

Jorgen Watne Frydnes, the chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, emphasized the importance of listening to hibakusha atomic bomb survivors during his speech at an event on nuclear disarmament in Tokyo on Sunday. The event was part of his visit to Japan for the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

“We believe the world should listen and learn to the voices of hibakusha,” Frydnes, 40, said in his keynote speech at the Nobel Peace Prize Conference at Sophia University in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo.

Last year, the committee chose Nihon Hidankyo (Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations), a national organization of hibakusha groups, as the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. Frydnes and those who accompanied him to Japan visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki on July 22 and 23, where they met and spoke with hibakusha.

In his speech on Sunday, Frydnes said that the activities of Nihon Hidankyo remind us of the catastrophic consequences of nuclear weapons. After coming to Japan, he said he felt the need to think about how to pass these activities on to future generations. He added that even young people who have not experienced the war can learn from hibakusha’s stories and emphasized the importance of preserving their testimonies and related source materials.

Prior to the event, Terumi Tanaka, a cochairperson of Nihon Hidankyo, held a press conference about the organization receiving the Nobel Peace Prize.

“It was a good opportunity for people all over the world to become aware of the threat of nuclear weapons,” Tanaka, 93, said. “I think we have been tasked with spreading [hibakusha’s] testimonies more widely.”