With this year marking the 80th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the welfare ministry this month began collecting testimonies from the roughly 106,000 hibakusha survivors of the nuclear attacks.
It is the first time in 30 years that the government has sought cooperation from all hibakusha over testimonies. A ministry official expressed hopes for "receiving as many testimonies as possible amid the aging" of those who survived the atomic bombings of the two cities in August 1945 in the closing days of World War II.
A leaflet seeking testimonies is being sent to survivors with hibakusha certificates across Japan by mail through prefectural governments. The ministry is also collecting portraits of deceased hibakusha, clothing exposed to the atomic bombs and photographs taken around the time of the bombings.
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