Former Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba will receive the 2013 Otto Hahn Peace Medal, a prominent German honor, the United Nations Association of Germany announced.
Akiba, 70, was noted for his continued calls for the abolition of nuclear weapons and promotion of peace while he was a mayor that "broke new ground by undertaking his work (on nuclear disarmament) on a local level," the association's Brandenburg chapter said Tuesday.
The ex-mayor will receive the accolade at a ceremony to be held in Berlin on April 16, according to the association. Founded in 1998, the peace medal is named after the Nobel prize-winning German scientist Otto Hahn. In principle, it is given out every two years.
Akiba was first elected to the mayoral office in 1999, after serving as a House of Representatives member and in other posts. He retired last year and currently works as a professor by special appointment at Hiroshima University.