Japan Hidankyo ``Continue'' voices stand out at prefectural representative meeting as the population ages

On the 8th, the Japan Council of Atomic and Hydrogen Bomb Victims' Organizations (Japan Hidankyo) held a national meeting of prefectural representatives in Tokyo to discuss the future of the organization as the population continues to age. Many prefectural organizations were against disbanding the organization, with many calling for its continued existence in cooperation with second-generation atomic bomb survivors and supporters.

At the June 2027 general meeting, the Organizational Information Department of Nippon Hidankyo proposed that one of three options be chosen at the June 2027 general meeting regarding the future of Nippon Hidankyo: (1) it should continue to be made up of "non-atomic bomb survivors" such as second- and third-generation atomic bomb survivors, (2) it should continue as long as possible, but it will be disbanded when there are no more active board members who are hibakusha.

Hideto Matsuura (80) of Matsuyama City, whose mother was exposed to the atomic bomb in utero in Hiroshima and who heads the organizational information department, said, ``Every hibakusha wishes that the Nippon Hidankyo and the local association continue to exist as long as possible.Even those who advocate dissolution or extinction are talking about the future, and they share the same desire for their continued existence for the time being.''

Yoshinori Omura (70), a second-generation atomic bomb survivor from Aichi Prefecture, said, ``At a time when the danger of nuclear war is increasing, there is a strong need for the survival of Nippon Hidankyo.'' He also mentioned that he won the Nobel Prize in 2024, and said that the existence of Nippon Hidankyo, which has demonstrated the inhumanity of nuclear weapons, "has become a moral compass."