Bikini tragedy gave rise to movement against atomic and hydrogen bombs

Japan Press Weekly

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

Bikini tragedy gave rise to movement against atomic and hydrogen bombs

This year marks the 55th anniversary of the U.S. hydrogen bomb test explosion at Bikini Atoll on March 1, 1954, when the Japanese tuna fishing boat " Lucky dragon #5" and many other Japanese fishing boats as well as Marshal islanders were exposed to radiation fallout. The Bikini Day gatherings will be held from February 27 to March 1 in Shizuoka Prefecture in order to commemorate the tragedy, and renew participants' determination to abolish nuclear weapons by heightening public awareness.

The Bikini tragedy came as a very shocking incident to Japanese people. By the end of the same year, 34 million people, or more than half of the eligible Japanese voters, signed the petition calling for atomic and hydrogen bombs to be banned. This movement developed into the 1st World Conference against A & H Bombs in August 1955, which led to the establishment of the Japan Council against A & H Bombs (Japan Gensuikyo) and the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bombs Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo).

The half-century-long movement since then has prevented the use of nuclear weapons and developed public demand for the abolition of such weapons.

The call for a nuclear weapons-free world has become global. U.S. citizens elected Barak Obama as their president, who has called for the pursuit of a world without nuclear weapons. 100 well-known figures, including former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, launched a Global Zero campaign for elimination of nuclear weapons. A similar move was launched by German political leaders, including a former chancellor and president.

2 former Daigo Fukuryu Maru crew members died last year

Two former crewmembers of the "Daigo Fukuryu Maru (Lucky Dragon #5)", a Japanese tuna fishing boat, who were exposed to radiation 55 years ago from a U.S. hydrogen bomb text explosion, died of cancer this past year.

Fourteen out of the total 23 ex-crewmen have died.

On March 1, 1954, the United Sates tested an H-bomb at the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands in the South Pacific. It was the largest nuclear test ever exploded. The hydrogen bomb, code named "Bravo," turned out to have 1,000 times the destructive power of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.

All 23 crew members were then showered with the radioactive fallout. Six months later in September 1954, the radio operator of the fishing boat, Kuboyama Aikichi, died of dysfunction of the liver due to radiation poisoning, and his dying words were, "Let me be the last victim of atomic and hydrogen bombs."

Since then, most former Lucky Dragon crew members have died after suffering from such diseases as liver cancer and liver cirrhosis, all apparently caused by radiation-related injuries.

- Akahata, February 19, 2009