Nihon Hidankyo Marks 70 Years of Founding

Tokyo, Aug. 10 (Jiji Press)--The Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, or Nihon Hidankyo, the country's only national organization of hibakusha atomic bomb survivors and the 2024 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, marked on Monday 70 years since its establishment.

Survivors of the August 1945 U.S. atomic bombings of the western Japan city of Hiroshima and the southwestern city of Nagasaki in the closing days of World War II have called for the abolition of nuclear weapons both at home and abroad, saying, "We will save humanity from the crisis through our experiences."

Among them was Mikiso Iwasa, who served as Nihon Hidankyo co-chair and died in 2020 at the age of 91.

Iwasa, who lost his mother in the Aug. 6, 1945, atomic bombing of Hiroshima, had said, "We must make use of the negative legacy of nuclear weapons as a lesson for the future."

When the bomb exploded, Iwasa, then 16, was in the garden of his house about 1.2 kilometers from the hypocenter. He was knocked to the ground but did not suffer serious injuries.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]