Seventy-six people exposed to radiation in the 1945 U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki filed applications en masse at seven prefectural governments and in Tokyo on Tuesday, asking to be recognized as sufferers of radiation sickness and calling for a more lenient recognition system.
The Japan Confederation of A-bomb and H-bomb Sufferers' Organizations, which is backing the applicants, has called the current recognition system "too severe and inhumane."
"Many A-bomb victims gave up hope to be officially recognized as sufferers under the current, severe system," a confederation official said, "but they have decided to apply as they are suffering more as they grow older."