October 15, 2025

Akahata ‘current’ column (excerpts)

One year has passed since the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo).

Nihon Hidankyo representative director Tanaka Terumi, in his address at a Nihon Hidankyo representatives’ meeting on October 8, pointed out that nearly ten countries, including Israel, now possess nuclear weapons, and that international concern over this situation is growing. He stated that this was probably the reason for awarding the prize to Nihon Hidankyo in 2024.

Tanaka said, “The Nobel Committee had intended to award it to us in 2025, but they moved it up by one year.” He continued, “Amid Russia’s use of nuclear threats associated with its invasion of Ukraine, the global concern about the possible use of nuclear weapons led to last year’s Nobel Peace Prize being awarded to us.”

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which entered into force in 2021, has been signed, ratified, or acceded to by 99 countries. However, nuclear-weapon states, including the United States, and their allies have not joined this treaty.

On September 26, the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, Tanaka Satoshi, also a Nihon Hidankyo representative director, opened his address at a high-level UN meeting by stating, “I feel a great sense of danger that all of humanity could become Hibakusha.” He then appealed to the world’s governments, “The Doomsday Clock, which symbolizes the time remaining until human extinction, is now set at just 89 seconds. Leaders of the nuclear powers who hold the key (to realize a nuclear-free world), please arrange to meet with us Hibakusha.”

The average age of Hibakusha exceeds 86 years. Tanaka Terumi calls on younger generations, “Our desire and goal is the abolition of nuclear weapons. As citizens of the only country to have experienced atomic bombings, let’s act together now!”