Japanese atomic bomb survivors accept Nobel Peace Prize

Nihon Hidankyo, the Japanese atomic bomb survivors’ group, has accepted the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize “for its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons”.

Now in their 80s and 90s, members of the group who survived American bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki accepted the award at a ceremony in Oslo’s City Hall in Norway.

In an interview with Al Jazeera inside the award venue, Toshiyuki Mimaki, 82, the co-chair of Nihon Hidankyo, said he was surprised to learn the group had won this year’s award.

“I was in the Hiroshima City Hall at the time watching the announcement, and I was expecting that the prize this year would go to people working for peace in Gaza,” he said.

“I was just so shocked.”

He said the group’s mission is “ensuring that nuclear weapons will never be used again”, and that it includes ending the war in Gaza.

Terumi Tanaka, who delivered the acceptance lecture on behalf of Nihon Hidankyo, also raised concerns about ongoing wars in Palestine and Ukraine.

“The nuclear superpower Russia threatens to use nuclear weapons in its war against Ukraine, and a cabinet member of Israel, in the midst of its unrelenting attacks on Gaza in Palestine, even spoke of the possible use of nuclear arms,” Tanaka said.

“I am infinitely saddened and angered that the nuclear taboo threatens to be broken,” he said.

In his speech, Tanaka recalled the “bright, white light” as an American bomber jet dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, three days after the first bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.

“Many people who were badly injured or burned, but still alive, were left unattended, with no help whatsoever. I became almost devoid of emotion, somehow closing off my sense of humanity, and simply headed intently for my destination,” he said.

Since then, Tanaka has joined with other survivors who have worked for decades to contribute to efforts to prevent nuclear weapons from ever being used again, including through the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

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