Japan launches drive to document Hiroshima, Nagasaki atomic bomb survivors' horrific experiences

ISTANBUL

Japanese survivors of the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have begun sharing their horrific experiences as this year marks the 80th anniversary of the nuclear attacks, Jiji Press reported Monday.

Japan's Welfare Ministry this month launched a nationwide effort to collect testimonies from approximately 106,000 remaining survivors, known as hibakusha, of the 1945 bombings.

It is the first time in 30 years that the government has requested the cooperation of all living survivors for testimony collection.

Prefectural governments distribute leaflets asking survivors to provide written accounts. The ministry is also gathering portraits of deceased survivors, clothing that was exposed to the atomic blasts, and photographs taken during the bombing.

The collected materials will be stored at the National Peace Memorial halls for atomic bomb victims in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. With consent from owners or families, some of the items will be displayed to the public.

Japan’s previous full-scale effort to collect survivor accounts occurred in 1995, when there were about 320,000 living survivors. Additional testimony collections were conducted from randomly selected people in 2005 and 2015.

On Aug. 6, 1945, the US dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, killing an estimated 140,000 people.

A second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki three days later, resulting in about 70,000 additional deaths. Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, 1945, bringing an end to World War II.

Earlier this year, Nihon Hidankyo, the Japanese atomic bomb survivors’ organization that won the Nobel Peace Prize last year, urged the government to attend a United Nations meeting on the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons as an observer. Japan chose not to participate in the meeting, held March 3–7 at UN headquarters in New York.