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by Michio Shimotaka, Staff Writer

On August 10, 1956, at the meeting venue of the second World Conference against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs in Nagasaki City, a national convention was held with A- and H-bomb sufferers from Nagasaki Prefecture and Hiroshima Prefecture. Banners hung at the venue demanded a ban on atomic and hydrogen bombs as well as national compensation for victims of the atomic bombings. On that occasion, the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo) was established.

Ichiro Moritaki, 55 years old at the time and a professor at Hiroshima University, was appointed to serve as co-chair of the organization. Mr. Moritaki read aloud Nihon Hidankyo’s declaration of establishment “Message to the World,” stating, “We have reassured our will to save humanity from its crisis through the lessons learned from our experiences, while at the same time saving ourselves.”

In conjunction with establishment of the Hiroshima Prefectural Confederation of A-bomb Sufferers Organizations (Hiroshima Hidankyo) earlier in May, collaboration began among A-bomb sufferers in three other prefectures — Nagasaki, Ehime, and Nagano. That movement developed into the formation of the first national organization in which local groups of A-bomb survivors (hibakusha) throughout Japan participated. Three of the organization’s co-chairs were selected from Hiroshima and two from Nagasaki. Heiichi Fujii from Hiroshima Hidankyo was selected to serve as the national organization’s secretary-general.

As executive board members, a total of 15 A-bomb sufferers were appointed from prefectures that already had a local A-bomb survivors’ organization or were in the process of forming one, including Ehime and Nagano. The name of Machi Soejima, an academician from Hyogo Prefecture who continued to work on the “one-yen donation” campaign, was also added to the list of board members. Work on creation of the organization made progress throughout Japan, leading to local organizations being formed in 39 prefectures by the early 1960s.

Survivors spoke out with courage

Terumi Tanaka, 92, one of the current co-chairs of Nihon Hidankyo, who lives in Niiza City in Saitama Prefecture, was 24 years old when the Nihon Hidankyo organization was first formed. Mr. Tanaka had experienced the atomic bombing in Nagasaki and lost five relatives in the bombing. For three days starting on August 9, the period during which the world conference was held, he returned to his home in Nagasaki from Tokyo, where he was studying, and participated in the conference on consecutive days.

Mr. Tanaka said that, among the approximately 3,000 people gathered at the event, “I was moved by the courageous survivors speaking out. There was enthusiasm among the participants about the fact that people were finally paying attention, more than 10 years after the atomic bombings.” Seared into his memory are scenes of A-bomb survivors conveying their experiences through their presence at the event.

Chieko Watanabe, a representative of A-bomb sufferers from Nagasaki who died in 1993 at the age of 64, appeared at the podium, held in her mother’s arms because she had been paralyzed from the waist down in the atomic bombing. Ms. Watanabe said, “Look at our misery. Our experience in the atomic bombings is surely enough.” Shizuko Abe, 98, a survivor from Hiroshima who now lives in the city’s Minami Ward, also spoke on stage. The poem Ms. Abe had written describing her feelings on the train back to Hiroshima after a petition seeking aid for survivors had been submitted to Japan’s Diet in March, was posted in front of the podium. It read, “So that we can continue believing life is worth living.”

Paving way for aid and relief

In September, Nihon Hidankyo crafted a draft outline for the Atomic Bomb Survivors Relief Law Bill detailing its demand for compensation from the national government. In addition to payment of medical bills for sufferers from the national budget, it called for payment of livelihood allowances as a form of social welfare. The outline clearly defined the dead victims of the atomic bombing as well as their family members as being “A-bomb sufferers” and thus being eligible for aid and relief. It also demanded payment of condolence money for victims and pensions to bereaved families.

In December, Nihon Hidankyo submitted a petition to the government and members of the Diet. As public opinion increasingly demanded aid and relief for A-bomb sufferers, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the opposition Japan Socialist Party jointly proposed a draft resolution relating to medical treatment for people impacted by the atomic bombings in the lower House of Councilors of Japan’s parliamentary Diet, calling on the government to provide health management and medical care for such sufferers. The resolution was unanimously adopted.

Mr. Fujii felt that the ruling party would take action, with relief funds provided by the delegation from China at the previous year’s world conference serving as impetus. In Hiroshima, the funds were donated to the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Casualty Council, through efforts made by Mr. Fuji, for use as medical expenses. However, he said, “I was told [by a Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker in charge of matters pertaining to the Ministry of Health and Welfare] to return the relief funds to China immediately, because a law would soon be created. I then thought, ‘Here we go,’” according to his comments in Hiroshima Heiwa Kagaku (in English, ‘Hiroshima peace science’), a bulletin published in 1996.

In that way, support from overseas revealed a void in Japan’s government aid and relief measures for such A-bomb sufferers. In February 1957, more than 11 years after the atomic bombings, the government submitted a draft in the Japanese Diet for the Atomic Bomb Medical Relief Law, which stipulated the provision of assistance to “hibakusha” for the first time.

(Originally published on March 22, 2025)