NAGASAKI — Nihon Hidankyo, Japan’s nationwide organization of atomic bomb survivors, is marking the 70th anniversary of its founding with a renewed pledge to pursue the abolition of nuclear weapons, as the number of survivors continues to decline.
The Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, known as Nihon Hidankyo, was established in Nagasaki on Aug. 10, 1956, by survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The group is scheduled to issue a statement on Monday, the anniversary of its founding, at a news conference in Nagasaki.
The organization has said its campaign remains centered on preventing further victims of nuclear weapons and conveying survivors’ experiences to future generations. In its June publication, Hidankyo reiterated its founding pledge to use survivors’ experiences to help avert a catastrophe for humanity and called for a world without nuclear weapons.
The anniversary comes as the hibakusha, or atomic bomb survivors, age and their numbers fall. The organization has been considering how to sustain its activities as fewer survivors remain. A proposal under discussion would allow second-generation survivors’ descendants to take over activities, while another would dissolve the organization when it can no longer operate as a survivor-led group. Members are expected to consider the group’s future at a meeting in 2027.
Hidankyo has also continued to press the Japanese government to join the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. In June, the organization and other groups submitted more than 224,000 additional signatures supporting Japan’s participation, bringing the reported total to about 3.67 million.
The group’s anniversary follows its receipt of the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize. The Norwegian Nobel Committee recognized Hidankyo for its efforts to achieve a world without nuclear weapons and for using survivor testimony to demonstrate why nuclear arms must never be used again.
The anniversary also comes amid renewed international debate over nuclear deterrence and disarmament. At Hiroshima’s Aug. 6 ceremony marking 81 years since the bombing, Mayor Kazumi Matsui urged world leaders not to justify nuclear weapons as a means of deterrence, while Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi reaffirmed Japan’s existing three non-nuclear principles but stopped short of committing to maintain them indefinitely.
Hidankyo’s 70th-anniversary statement is scheduled for release in Nagasaki on Aug. 10, when the organization will formally mark seven decades of survivor-led campaigning against nuclear weapons.
