A Time for Diligence: Nobel Peace Prize Winner Nihon Hidankyō and the Way Ahead

The Birth of a Movement

Members of the hibakusha community and local media cheered the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize being awarded to Nihon Hidankyō, the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations. As a journalist, I have interviewed many survivors of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki since the 1990s and was among the multitude celebrating the award. At the same time, the honor carried with an alarming recognition that the long-standing international taboo against the use of nuclear weapons that the organization helped build through witness testimony is under threat. Below I consider Hidankyō’s legacy and ongoing role in preventing the spread and use of nuclear arms.

Hidankyō has long been considered a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize. It was first nominated in 1985 but was passed over then and many subsequent times. Since its founding in 1956, it has stood in firm opposition to nuclear weapons. The tireless efforts of hibakusha to eradicate nuclear weapons from the world through their testimonies makes this year’s selection an especially joyous moment for survivors. It stands alongside their work in the adoption of the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons that legally bans the development, possession, testing, and use of nuclear arms.

The founders of the hibakusha movement and Hidankyō are antinuclear pioneers. Looking back on their tireless grassroots work, it is hard not to be moved by the sense that their struggles in warning against the spread and use of nuclear weapons have finally been rewarded.

It took time for hibakusha to find their voices, though. In first decade of the postwar period, attempts by hibakusha to express their suffering were drowned out in the Allied occupation’s rush to reconstruct Japan. They were also stifled by the lack of support from the Japanese government, which left victims to deal with their physical and psychological wounds on their own.

A turning point came in March 1954 when a US nuclear test on Bikini Atoll rained “death ash” down on the crew and cargo of the fishing boat Daigo Fukuryū Maru. The incident heightened the public’s awareness of the horrors of radiation and bolstered support for the hibakusha’s antinuclear message. Amid this backdrop, Hidankyō was established two years later.

For Humanity

Hidankyō was founded with a humanistic, noble purpose. At the ceremony marking its establishment, the organization declared its resolve to defend mankind from the threat of nuclear destruction, proclaiming in its Message to the World that “we have reassured our will to save humanity from its crisis through the lessons learned from our experiences, while at the same time saving ourselves.”

Atomic bomb survivors have steadfastly spoken out against the inhumanity of nuclear war, conveying the pain and suffering they endured through their testimonies and unflinchingly showing the scars that they bear, even as many around them looked on in disgust or pity.

Hibakusha delegations have carried their message around the globe. In 1978, for instance, Hidankyō members attended the First UN Special Session on Disarmament in New York. At the second special session in 1982, then cochair Yamaguchi Senji became the first hibakusha to speak from the podium of the UN General Assembly Hall, where carrying a portrait of himself showing the keloid scars on his face and neck, he appealed for the elimination of nuclear arms.

In 2005 at the conference to review the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons at UN Headquarters in New York, the organization held an A-bomb exhibition consisting of panels of photographs and other items displaying the devastation inflicted by the bombs.

A woman looks at photos in Hidankyō’s A-bomb exhibit during the 2005 NPT Review Conference. (© Kyōdō)

Hibakusha are motivated by the desire to save others from the horrible suffering they have endured. They have suppressed their anger at the United States for dropping the bombs and focused their efforts on drawing the attention of the world to the horrors of nuclear war, believing that hate must be overcome to break escalatory cycle of retaliation and thus prevent humanity from destroying itself. The steady drumbeat of their appeals contributed to the establishment of an international “nuclear taboo” condemning the use of nuclear weapons as morally unacceptable, an achievement worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize.

I would argue that the prize is long overdue, though. The faces of many now passed hibakusha who contributed to Hidankyō’s campaigns come to mind, and I know they would have wanted to share in the joy of their Nobel honor.

Pressing Ahead

While the Nobel Peace Prize is a great honor, I am reminded of the words of former cochair Tsuboi Sunao following Hidankyō being passed over for the award in 2015. Speaking at a press conference in Hiroshima, Tsuboi, who died in 2021 at the age of 96, stated that hibakusha could not rejoice “until the day all nuclear arms are eliminated.” Above awards and honors—even one as revered as the Nobel Peace Prize—towers the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament. Although Tsuboi is no longer with us, his words urge us to not indulge in back patting, but to keep our shoulder to the wheel.

Tsuboi Sunao (center right) shakes hands with President Barack Obama after the leader’s historic speech at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park on May 27, 2016. (© Jiji)

The only known photos of the immediate aftermath of the bombing of Hiroshima were taken by photojournalist Matsushige Yoshito. Recounting the experience, Matsushige declared that “the horror of the atomic bombing can never be overstated. What I saw while walking through the center of the city on that day could be summed up in one word: hell.”

The scene at Miyuki Bridge in Hiroshima, some 2.2 kilometers from the epicenter, at around 11:00 am on August 6, 1945. It is one of five photographs that Matsushige Yoshito snapped on the day. (© Chūgoku Shimbunsha; Nihon Shashin Hozon Center)

The activism of hibakusha has taken many forms. Some have steadfastly given testimony to what they lived through to oppose the ongoing development of nuclear arms, others have led demonstrations against tests, and others have shared their experiences through art. These myriad approaches are each rooted in the conviction that humankind must denounce nuclear weapons if it is to avoid total destruction.

The world seemingly took a step back from that awful fate with the signing of the nonproliferation treaty. However, the nine countries that possess nuclear weapons have continued to turn a blind eye to the agreement, with nations like Russia, China, and North Korea upgrading their arsenals as other states edge closer to obtaining arms.

Russia’s actions are particularly egregious as it is a permanent member of the UN Security Council. Since invading Ukraine, it has conducted drills to deploy tactical nuclear bombs in a veiled threat to the West. The United Nations, instead of acting as a brake on such reckless conduct, is powerless to restrain a member of its most powerful council from blatant violations of international law. Equally worrying is the ongoing conflict in the Middle East centered around nuclear-armed Israel.

Nuclear powers need to tread carefully as their involvement in these regional conflicts risks eroding long-standing norms on non-use. A single tactical bomb dropped on the battlefield would shatter the nuclear taboo that Hidankyō and others have worked to build, making an all-out response a terrifying reality. In such a scenario, little could be done to prevent humanity from destroying itself.

Now More than Ever

The Nobel Committee, in selecting Hidankyō for the Peace Prize, acknowledged the mounting nuclear threat and sent a clear message to nuclear-weapon states and allied countries protected under their broad “nuclear umbrella.” As citizens of the only country to have nuclear weapons used against it, Japanese must recognize the urgency of the situation and make certain that the testimonies of hibakusha continue to reach an ever-wider audience.

The urgency of this task grows as society inches toward the inevitable time when no hibakusha will remain to give first-hand testimony about the horrors of nuclear weapons. The average age of atomic bomb survivors is 85, making it essential to find ways to keep the stories of the hibakusha alive and to continue sharing these with the broader world.

It is the duty of the Japanese government to reaffirm its antinuclear stance and strive to amplify the message of hibakusha. Instead, it has chosen to remain under the nuclear umbrella of the United States and has refused to bow to the will of the populace by signing the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, declining even to participate as an observer.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s presidential election in September brought a disturbing change as candidates called for debate on nuclear sharing, a stance wholly at odds with the hibakusha message. Such an abandonment of Japan’s nonnuclear principles runs contrary to the NPT, of which Japan is a signatory, threatening a complete collapse of the agreement and potentially emboldening nuclear threshold states to arm themselves.

However, the government pays lip service to the idea of nuclear disarmament, calling for the “ultimate elimination” of weapons while remaining firmly under the US nuclear umbrella. The talk of nuclear sharing during the LDP presidential election made the ruling faction’s lack of commitment in eliminating nuclear armaments painfully clear.

Skating on Thin Ice

The principle of nuclear deterrence accepts the existence of nuclear weapons, arguing that peace and stability are maintained by the threat of mutually assured destruction. It is a false ideology that leaves the sword of Damocles hanging over humanity’s head. As long as countries possess nuclear weapons, there remains the risk that they will use them. Trusting in deterrence to keep the peace even as nations expand their arsenals is a perilous gamble.

Achieving the hibakushas’ aim of abolishing nuclear arms requires convincing authoritarian regimes in Russia, China, and North Korea of the need to halt their current military buildup and side with peace. It is a challenging proposition, but it is the only way to ensure that the remaining hibakusha will realize a world without nuclear weapons in their lifetime. As the eightieth anniversary of the atomic bombings approaches, I am reminded of how much work remains to be done. I am overcome by a sense of urgency as the clock ticks down on what little time we have left. At the same time, though, Tsuboi’s determination to “never give up” compels me to press on.

Will humanity choose to abolish nuclear weapons or continue to hurtle down the path to self-destruction? The pleas of no more Hiroshima and no more Nagasaki are directed at politicians as well as each and every one of us. The late Moritaki Ichirō, professor emeritus at Hiroshima University and a key figure in the establishment of Nihon Hidankyō, stated the situation in no uncertain terms—humankind cannot exist alongside nuclear weapons. We must now act on these words.

(Originally published in Japanese. Banner photo: Visitors pray at a memorial to people killed in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. © Reuters.)