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Nori Tohei, co-chairperson of Japan Confederation of A- and H-bomb Sufferers Organizations, dies at 82

Nori Tohei, co-chairperson of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-bomb Sufferers Organizations, who experienced the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and supported the A-bomb survivors’ movement, including the revision of the A-bomb disease certification system, died of gallbladder cancer at Nakano General Hospital in Tokyo on February 24. He was 82.

Originally from the town of Ichikai in Tochigi Prefecture, he lived in Suginami Ward, Tokyo.The funeral will be held at the Chomeiji Funeral Hall in Suginami at 11 a.m. on February 27. His wife Reiko will represent the family at the service.

On August 6, 1945, Mr. Tohei experienced the atomic bombing while in a building of Toyo Kogyo Kaisha, Ltd (now, Mazda Motor Corporation). At the time he was a student of the Hiroshima School of Secondary Education (now, Hiroshima University), and had been mobilized to work for the war effort. In the aftermath of the blast, he was involved in relief activities in the area around his school.

Mr. Tohei came to be involved in the A-bomb survivors’ movement around 1966, when he was a teacher at a junior high school in Tokyo. He then assumed the post of secretary general, among other roles, in the Japan Confederation of A- and H-bomb Sufferers Organizations. In June 2000, he took up the post of co-chairperson. With regard to the class action lawsuits over A-bomb disease certification, which have been led by the Japan Confederation of A- and H-bomb Sufferers Organizations since 2003, Mr. Tohei spearheaded the effort by, for instance, petitioning the Japanese government, and strove to have the certification criteria relaxed. He also served as president of the Tokyo Federation of A-bomb Sufferers Organizations (Toyukai).

Sunao Tsuboi, 85, also co-chairperson of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-bomb Sufferers Organizations and chair of the Hiroshima Prefectural Confederation of A-bomb Sufferers Organizations, said in a choked voice: “Mr. Tohei was a sincere man, with strong principles. We have suffered a real loss.”

(Originally published on February 25, 2011)

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