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A-bomb survivors’ group outlines activities for 70th anniversary of atomic bombings

by Jumpei Fujimura, Staff Writer

The Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo) held a news conference in Tokyo on February 13 and announced its plans for this milestone year, the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The organization will hold a rally in Hiroshima on August 5, and call for the elimination of nuclear weapons at the review conference for the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT), scheduled to open in late April. In collaboration with survivors of the Great Tokyo Air Raid, Hidankyo will hold an antiwar event in Tokyo in October.

The organization, which was established in 1956, will look back on the history of its activities and A-bomb survivors’ accounts at the rally at the Hiroshima City Bunka Koryu Kaikan, located in downtown Hiroshima. Representatives from overseas and peace organizations, who will be attending the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony on August 6, will be invited to take part in the rally to share the wish for nuclear abolition.

Nihon Hidankyo is also planning to hold an A-bomb exhibition in the lobby of United Nations headquarters in New York, while the NPT review conference is being held there. With increasing international concern about the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons, photos on this theme will be displayed and panels will be exhibited to explain about the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 (Daiichi) nuclear power plant. Hidankyo will send a delegation of 50 people to the conference, of whom 31 will be A-bomb survivors between the ages of 69 and 90.

An antiwar event will be held at Tokyo Metropolitan Hibiya Public Hall on October 17. The purpose of the event is to convey to younger generations the terrible damage that was caused by the war, where people were forced to fight and victims died unattended. An executive committee for the event will be formed soon, and will include experts and survivors of air raids.

Terumi Tanaka, the secretary general of Nihon Hidankyo, said, “We may not be able to organize events commemorating the next decade’s anniversary.” As the survivors age, he explained, it is becoming harder for them to carry on with their activities. “We must have children of the survivors and those of the younger generations take over this effort to abolish nuclear weapons.”

(Originally published on February 14, 2015)

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