Hiroshima Hibakusha Group Head Mimaki Steps Down

Hiroshima, May 30 (Jiji Press)--The Hiroshima Prefectural Confederation of A-bomb Sufferers Organization on Saturday decided the resignation of its head, Toshiyuki Mimaki, 84, at a general meeting to mark the 70th anniversary of its founding.

Hiroshi Harada, 86, deputy leader of the group of hibakusha atomic bomb survivors and former head of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, will succeed Mimaki.

Mimaki will assume the position of adviser at the Hiroshima organization while continuing to serve as co-chair of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, or Nihon Hidankyo, the 2024 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

"I will step down because of poor health," Mimaki said at the meeting, held in the western Japan city of Hiroshima, which was flattened by a U.S. atomic bomb on Aug. 6, 1945, in the closing days of World War II. "I was glad to have been able to meet with many people." he added.

"I'm relieved," he told reporters after the meeting, "I don't think that I have done everything I should, but health is most important."

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]