On March 27, the Kochi District Court declared that a man who entered the city of Hiroshima just one hour after the Aug. 6, 1945, atomic bombing is a sufferer of an illness caused by radiation. Similar suits have been filed by some 300 people at 17 district courts. They are challenging the state's refusal to accept their requests to certify them as sufferers of illnesses caused by the atomic bombings.
The ruling marks the state's 16th consecutive defeat in lawsuits over the A-bomb radiation illness certification. The state's past behavior on the issue highlights its determination to take the legal fight all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary. But survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings are elderly and time is running out. The government should reconsider its opposition to drastically expanding the scope of illness certification.
The Kochi court ruled that the ischemic heart disease suffered by the man, who was engaged in the relief work for atomic bombing victims within a radius of 2 kilometers from ground zero, was caused by extended exposure to a low level of radiation from the atomic bombing. He died in 2004 and his family filed the lawsuit.