Tag - atomic-bombings

 
 

ATOMIC BOMBINGS

Terumi Tanaka, one of the representatives of 2024 Nobel Peace Prize winner Nihon Hidankyo, speaks during the prize ceremony in Oslo in December.
JAPAN
May 14, 2025
Nobel Institute to hold event in Tokyo to call for nuclear disarmament
The Norwegian Nobel Institute plans to hold an event in Japan in July to call for nuclear disarmament, people familiar with the matter said Tuesday.
Newly elected Pope Leo XIV waves on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican on Thursday.
JAPAN / Society
May 9, 2025
Heads of hibakusha groups urge Pope Leo to promote abolition of nukes
They expressed hopes that the new pontiff will follow in the footsteps of his predecessor, Francis, who visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 2019.
The Peace Statue at the Peace Park in the city of Nagasaki
JAPAN
May 9, 2025
Nagasaki to invite envoys from Russia, Belarus and Israel to peace ceremony
The city had not invited the top Russian and Belarusian envoys since 2022, while the Israeli ambassador was not invited last year.
Izumi Nakamitsu, U.N. undersecretary-general and high representative for disarmament affairs, planted saplings from a persimmon tree that survived the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima at the U.N. headquarters in New York on Monday.
JAPAN
May 6, 2025
Saplings from a tree that survived atomic bombing planted at U.N. headquarters
The planting comes as this year marks the 80th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombings of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
A student from Hiroshima Jogakuin University (center) makes paper cranes with event attendees at the Peace Memorial Park on Monday in the city of Hiroshima.
JAPAN
May 6, 2025
Hiroshima Children's Peace Monument marks 67th anniversary
Students from Hiroshima Jogakuin University, which organized the ceremony, placed about 7,000 paper cranes at the monument.
Hiroshi Kanamoto, a representative of Nihon Hidankyo, speaks at a preparatory meeting for the 2026 Review Conference of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in New York on Wednesday.
JAPAN
May 1, 2025
Hidankyo member calls for nuclear weapons to be eliminated
The previous two Nonproliferation Treaty review conferences ended in failure.
Michiko Takagaki talks about the personal items she has displayed of a relative who died in the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima, in Fuchu, Hiroshima Prefecture, on April 26.
JAPAN / History
Apr 29, 2025
Items of an A-bomb victim who died the day he enlisted to be displayed
Just 15 minutes after enlisting in the now-defunct Imperial Japanese military, an atomic bomb was dropped some 700 meters from where he stood.
Visitors look at the preserved Atomic Bomb Dome in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in the city of Hiroshima in October.
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2025
80 years on, Japan's government seeks testimonies from all hibakusha
It is the first time in 30 years that the government has sought cooperation from all hibakusha over testimonies.
Hiroshima is full of memorials to the 1945 atomic bombing. Among them, the peace museum promotes an ambiguous message: One against nuclear weapons without acknowledging the role of nuclear deterrence in preserving the postwar peace.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 21, 2025
The ambiguity of Japan’s message on nuclear weapons
It is common in Japan to be both anti-atomic weapons and anti-war. But are these positions not contradictory if nuclear deterrence actually works to preserve the peace?
Takashi Shiraishi (center), honorable emeritus professor at the Prefectural University of Kumamoto and chair of the International Group of Eminent Persons for a World without Nuclear Weapons, speaks at a news conference after the group's meeting on Monday at the United Nations University in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward.
JAPAN
Apr 1, 2025
Global experts seek urgent action to prevent nuclear war
The experts warn that the risk of conventional warfare leading to the use of nuclear weapons is becoming serious.
Italian President Sergio Mattarella lays flowers on Saturday before the cenotaph for the victims of the 1945 atomic bombing at Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2025
Italian president lays flowers at Hiroshima Peace Park
The president observed a moment of silent in front of the cenotaph and then toured the park, accompanied by Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui.
High school student Mayu Kobayashi (right) speaks as she and other "student peace ambassadors" call for the abolition of nuclear weapons in front of the United Nations headquarters in New York on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 6, 2025
Japanese high school students call for nuke abolition in New York
They stress that peace must be continuously protected and is not something to be taken for granted.
Upper House lawmaker Shinji Morimoto speaks during a meeting of signatories to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons held at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2025
Japanese lawmaker addresses nuke ban treaty meeting for first time
"Nuclear weapons and humanity cannot coexist," Shinji Morimoto from the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan stressed at a panel discussion.
Nihon Hidankyo Assistant Secretary-General Jiro Hamasumi delivers a speech at the third meeting of signatories to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons on Monday at the United Nations headquarters in New York.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2025
Nihon Hidankyo executive urges abolition of nuclear weapons at U.N. meeting
"Atomic bombs are the 'devil's weapons' that rob people of their future," said Jiro Hamasumi, assistant secretary-general of Nihon Hidankyo.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi speaks at a news conference at the Prime Minister's Office on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 3, 2025
Japan unlikely to attend future meetings for nuke ban treaty
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi indicates that Tokyo's absence from this week's meeting is due to the treaty being incompatible with U.S. nuclear deterrence.
The entrance to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, in the city of Hiroshima, on Feb. 22
JAPAN / Society
Mar 3, 2025
Annual visitors to Hiroshima museum top 2 million for the first time
The total number of visitors since the museum's opening is expected to surpass 80 million by the end of this month.
One of the representatives of 2024 Nobel Peace Prize winner Nihon Hidankyo, Terumi Tanaka, speaks during the Nobel Peace Prize awarding ceremony in Oslo City Hall on Dec 10.
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2025
Over 80% in U.S. unaware of Nihon Hidankyo's Nobel Prize: poll
The proportion of respondents who said that they knew of Nihon Hidankyo's award and the reason behind it stood below 10% in all seven countries polled.
Nihon Hidankyo co-chair Terumi Tanaka, 92, delivers a speech in Tokyo on Saturday.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 2, 2025
Nihon Hidankyo urges nuclear weapon ban as it reports on Nobel Prize ceremony
Nihon Hidankyo held a meeting in Tokyo on Saturday to report on its reception of the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize at the award ceremony in Norway in December.
The preserved Atomic Bomb Dome is seen behind the Cenotaph for the victims of the atomic bombing at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park last October.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 28, 2025
Hiroshima and Nagasaki mayors invite Trump to visit on 80th anniversary of atomic bombing
The mayors emphasized Washington’s key role in reining in the proliferation of nuclear weapons as “tensions continue to worsen” across the globe.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (second from right) meets with Nihon Hidankyo co-chair Terumi Tanaka (fourth from left) and other executives of the atomic bomb survivors' group at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 8, 2025
Nihon Hidankyo expresses disappointment over meeting with Ishiba
The group wanted to discuss Japan’s possible participation in a U.N. conference on banning nuclear weapons but did not get the opportunity to raise it.

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?