Eighty years after the U.S. atomic bombings of Japan, the risk of nuclear attack is at an extreme level, despite the robust efforts of Nihon Hidankyo, which received the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize.

Last year, the Norwegian Nobel Committee praised Nihon Hidankyo, formally called the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, for its "extraordinary" efforts, including witness testimony, that have "contributed greatly to the establishment of the nuclear taboo."

In a speech during the award ceremony in Oslo last December, group co-chair Terumi Tanaka, 93, described the abolition of nuclear weapons as "the heartfelt desire" of hibakusha atomic bomb survivors.

After receiving the prize, Nihon Hidankyo continued its work.

Group members met with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba the next month. Among them was another co-chair Toshiyuki Mimaki, 83, who called on the government to attend as an observer a meeting of signatories to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

Despite the old age of many members, the group held debates with lawmakers and gatherings with citizens to make its case. But the government was absent from the meeting of the signatories in March, when Jiro Hamasumi, 79, currently secretary-general of Nihon Hidankyo, termed atomic bombs "the 'devil's weapons' that rob people of their future."

The Nobel Committee gave the prize to Nihon Hidankyo to strengthen public opinion against nuclear weapons ahead of this year's 80th anniversaries of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.

At the request of the committee, Nihon Hidankyo sent hibakusha to France and elsewhere.

The critical situation continues, however, as marked by Russia's prolonged invasion of Ukraine and the attack by Israel and the United States on nuclear facilities in Iran in June.

Nobel Committee chair Jorgen Frydnes stated in his speech in Tokyo in late July that the world "must listen" to the voices of hibakusha.

In August, Nihon Hidankyo released a statement to mark the 80th anniversaries of the atomic bombings, saying that "nuclear risk has reached an extreme level" and "the risk of a third world war" is increasing. "We will continue to appeal, as long as we live, that nuclear weapons cannot coexist with humanity," it emphasized.

In the statement, Nihon Hidankyo expressed hope that "the next generation will continue to build on this movement with even greater ingenuity." The group will hold an event with young people Saturday.

Hamasumi said that the problem is how to continue the movement in the future.