Norwegian Nobel Committee chair Jorgen Frydnes has visited Hiroshima and called for attention to be paid to the voices of hibakusha, who survived the 1945 atomic bombing of the western Japan city.
During his visit on Tuesday, Frydnes presented a replica of the Nobel Peace Prize medal to Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui. Last year, the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, also known as Nihon Hidankyo, won the prize.
Matsui said that the Nobel committee's decision to award the prize to Nihon Hidankyo sent a "very important message" to the world.
Later in the day, the committee chair inspected the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and wrote in the guestbook, "At this special place of memory here in Hiroshima, we pay tribute to all who were lost, to all the survivors — and to all those who turned pain into hope, and memory into a force for peace."
Speaking to reporters there, Frydnes warned, "The nuclear taboo is fragile." He underscored the need to continue to work for peace and listen to hibakusha, who say that nuclear weapons should never be used again.
Frydnes also met with hibakusha, including Toshiyuki Mimaki, 83, co-chair of Nihon Hidankyo, and young people after laying flowers at the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims.
"I was very glad to meet (Frydnes) again," Mimaki, who attended the Nobel award ceremony last December, told reporters.
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