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We’ll never give up on eliminating nuclear weapons: Toshiyuki Mimaki, Nihon Hidankyo co-chair, reports on Nobel Peace Prize at Cenotaph for A-bomb Victims

by Michio Shimotaka, Staff Writer

On October 13, Toshiyuki Mimaki, 82, co-chair of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo) who also serves as chair of the Hiroshima Prefectural Confederation of A-bomb Sufferers Organizations (Hiroshima Hidankyo), visited Peace Memorial Park, located in Hiroshima’s Naka Ward, to report the news at the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims that Nihon Hidankyo had been selected as the recipient of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. Mourning the loss of the lives of forerunners in the organization and people who died in the atomic bombing, Mr. Mimaki vowed to continue pushing on for the elimination of nuclear weapons.

Mr. Mimaki stood in front of the cenotaph with Masao Hoyama, 95, and Koji Kaya, 71, vice chairs of the Hiroshima Hidankyo organization. Referring to the names of successive Hiroshima Hidankyo chairs that also led Nihon Hidankyo, such as Ichiro Moritaki, who died in 1994 at the age of 92, and Sunao Tsuboi, who died in 2021 at the age of 96, he said while laying flowers at the cenotaph, “We have been selected to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. As Mr. Tsuboi would always say, we’ll never give up on our efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons.”

People from overseas who happened to be at the scene applauded him. In response to questions from the media, Mr. Mimaki said, “The efforts by so many A-bomb survivors to achieve the elimination of nuclear weapons led to our being awarded the prize this year. Although the path to achieving that goal will be difficult, we must continue calling for it.”

(Originally published on October 14, 2024)

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