The announcement by the Norwegian Nobel Prize Committee on 11 October that the Japanese NGO Nihon Hidankyo had received this year’s Nobel Peace Prize was recognition of the positive role played by this organisation, which brings together groups representing the survivors of the atom bombs dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945.

The survivors are referred to in Japanese as “hibakusha.” They are people who survived the bombings but suffered injuries or radiation exposure from them that either later led to their deaths or to years of continual suffering.

Since its establishment in 1956, Nihon Hidankyo has been advocating world peace and the elimination of nuclear weapons. It has worked to ensure that these deadly weapons are not used again, and it aims to spare the world the dangers of a nuclear war that could devastate life on earth, whether intentionally or accidentally as a result of the actions of one of the world’s nuclear-armed states.

The number of the survivors of the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is decreasing due to the passage of time, but their message remains strong and resonates across Japan and the world as a whole. These have been the only two instances thus far of nuclear bombs being dropped on cities and causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and devastating buildings and infrastructure.

 Some 214,000 people lost their lives in the atomic bombings of these two cities, alongside widespread misery. Thousands of Japanese children who lost their fathers during World War II also lost their mothers, siblings, relatives, and friends as a result of the nuclear bombings that were used to force Japan to surrender or to test out these new weapons or for any of the other reasons that were given at the time.

During the four years that I lived and worked in Japan in the first two decades of the present century, I had numerous opportunities to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki, whether for the annual memorial event held in August each year to commemorate the bombings and renew the call for world peace and the abolition of nuclear weapons or on other occasions.

At each of these events, I was eager to meet at least one of the survivors of the bombings and listen to his or her account of those tragic days that are etched in the memories of all Japanese people and particularly in those of people from the two cities that were directly affected. I also had the opportunity to listen to the memories of people from other cities who happened to be in Hiroshima or Nagasaki at the time of the bombings.

Despite differences in the narratives given by the different “hibakusha” concerned, shaped as they were by the circumstances faced by each individual, there were common elements shared by all. For example, the element of shock was remembered by all, as was the feeling of a horrendous tragedy taking place, particularly among those who witnessed the dismembered bodies of people killed by the bombs.

There was a shared sense that what had happened represented not just the end of life in the cities concerned, but also the end of the world, especially in the immediate aftermath of the bombings. There was nothing to be seen apart from the destruction and the blood of the dead and wounded mixed with the rubble of buildings.

However, the most important aspect of the narratives that I listened to over the years was the positions that some of the survivors expressed regarding issues that extend beyond personal experiences to broader public concerns. One of these was the acknowledgement by some of them of the then Japanese government’s partial responsibility for the destruction and suffering endured by the Japanese people at the time, including those from Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Some of the “hibakusha” recognised that the alliance of right-wing military leaders and right-wing politicians who controlled the political scene in Japan at that time had misled the Japanese Emperor Hirohito, leading him to make decisions based on misinformation and miscalculations that not only led Japan to lose the war but also to attack neighbouring Asian countries, occupy their territories, and foster deep-rooted bitterness, some of which continues to exist even today.

Some of the “hibakusha” also said that while they had had feelings of intense animosity towards the US immediately after the bombings due to its direct responsibility for the casualties and the material destruction caused, they had since moved beyond these sentiments. Over the years, some of them had begun to think more broadly, recognising the part of the responsibility that needed to be borne by the Japanese authorities at the time due to their insistence on continuing the war in Asia, as well as other acts of aggression.

Some “hibakusha” even went so far as to argue that the US occupation of Japan after its defeat in World War II represented the country’s “liberation” from the right-wing clique that had held power in Tokyo during the war, thereby allowing the Japanese to build a multi-party democratic system based on the rule of law.

Yet, the most important stance of the “hibakusha” remains their advocacy of the abolition of nuclear weapons and their ongoing efforts, both in Japan and across the world, to mobilise support for a nuclear weapons ban as a strategic goal that will help to ensure world peace and security. This leads them to travel throughout the world and collaborate with numerous governmental and non-governmental entities that share their views, explaining the details of the devastation and radiation caused by the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

Their narratives are based on the firsthand accounts of those who are still alive, as well as the stories of those who have passed away since 1945. They have also developed a way of transmitting these memories to the new generations in Japan, who have in turn demonstrated a commitment to carry forward the experiences and stories of the “hibakusha” both within Japan and across the rest of the world.

The writer is a diplomat and commentator.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 31 October, 2024 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly