Missing out on Nobel Peace Prize, Japan Confederation of A- and H-bomb Sufferers Organizations recommits to cause of nuclear abolition
Oct. 19, 2015
by Kyosuke Mizukawa and Jumpei Fujimura, Staff Writers
On October 9, the Japan Confederation of A- and H-bomb Sufferers Organizations and A-bomb survivors, which had hoped to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in the 70th year since the atomic bombing, recommitted themselves to the cause of abolishing nuclear weapons.
“We aren’t sitting here feeling sorry for ourselves,” said Sunao Tsuboi evenly at a press conference held in Hiroshima. “We will continue our efforts, as we’ve done to date.” Mr. Tsuboi, 90, is the chair of the Hiroshima Prefectural Confederation of A-bomb Sufferers Organizations and one of the co-chairpersons of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-bomb Sufferers. Among this year’s crowd of reporters at the Hiroshima office, more numerous than in the past, he stressed that they could not rejoice until the day all nuclear arms are eliminated and that their hope would last until that day arrives.
At the office of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-bomb Sufferers Organizations, located in Tokyo, Terumi Tanaka, 83, the secretary general, and three others were waiting for good news. Mr. Tanaka said with chagrin, “It’s too bad. I had hoped that getting the Nobel Peace Prize would be an opportunity to make the cruelty of nuclear weapons and the existence of the A-bomb victims and survivors more widely known.”
The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to organizations or individuals working for nuclear issues, such as the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) in 1985, every ten years. The International Peace Bureau (IPB, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland), an anti-nuclear peace organization, recommended the Japan Confederation of A- and H-bomb Sufferers Organizations; Sumiteru Taniguchi, 86, one of the co-chairpersons of the organization and a resident of Nagasaki; and Setsuko Thurlow, 83, an A-bomb survivor and native of Hiroshima who now lives in Toronto, Canada as a candidate for the prize this year, arguing that the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing should be a new start in the pursuit of nuclear abolition.
(Originally published on October 10, 2015)
On October 9, the Japan Confederation of A- and H-bomb Sufferers Organizations and A-bomb survivors, which had hoped to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in the 70th year since the atomic bombing, recommitted themselves to the cause of abolishing nuclear weapons.
“We aren’t sitting here feeling sorry for ourselves,” said Sunao Tsuboi evenly at a press conference held in Hiroshima. “We will continue our efforts, as we’ve done to date.” Mr. Tsuboi, 90, is the chair of the Hiroshima Prefectural Confederation of A-bomb Sufferers Organizations and one of the co-chairpersons of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-bomb Sufferers. Among this year’s crowd of reporters at the Hiroshima office, more numerous than in the past, he stressed that they could not rejoice until the day all nuclear arms are eliminated and that their hope would last until that day arrives.
At the office of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-bomb Sufferers Organizations, located in Tokyo, Terumi Tanaka, 83, the secretary general, and three others were waiting for good news. Mr. Tanaka said with chagrin, “It’s too bad. I had hoped that getting the Nobel Peace Prize would be an opportunity to make the cruelty of nuclear weapons and the existence of the A-bomb victims and survivors more widely known.”
The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to organizations or individuals working for nuclear issues, such as the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) in 1985, every ten years. The International Peace Bureau (IPB, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland), an anti-nuclear peace organization, recommended the Japan Confederation of A- and H-bomb Sufferers Organizations; Sumiteru Taniguchi, 86, one of the co-chairpersons of the organization and a resident of Nagasaki; and Setsuko Thurlow, 83, an A-bomb survivor and native of Hiroshima who now lives in Toronto, Canada as a candidate for the prize this year, arguing that the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing should be a new start in the pursuit of nuclear abolition.
(Originally published on October 10, 2015)
