Representative of this year's Nobel Peace Prize winner Nihon Hidankyo, or the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, Terumi Tanaka, speaks during a press conference ahead of the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, at the Nobel Institute in Oslo, on Monday, Dec. 9, 2024.

Terumi Tanaka, a survivor of the U.S. atomic bombings of Japan and the representative of an organization that won this year's Nobel Peace Prize, called on Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday to stop making nuclear threats.

The 92-year-old spoke at a news conference in Oslo, Norway, a day before a ceremony where he is to deliver a lecture on behalf of Nihon Hidankyo, an organization of survivors of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that won this year's prize.

Asked by a reporter if he had a message for Putin, Tanaka said that the Russian leader's repeated nuclear threats convinced him that Putin must not understand how devastating the use of nuclear weapons would be.

He said that his organization's message to Putin — which he said had also been conveyed to the Russian leader directly — is that “nuclear weapons are things which must never be used."

“I don’t think he has even thought about this or understood this. Therefore, he is able to say these kind of things. So I think that how we can change his way of thinking is what we need to do to have him really understand what these are,” he said through a translator.

The first U.S. atomic bombing killed 140,000 people in the city of Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945. A second on Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945, killed another 70,000. Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, ending World War II.

Japan's Kyodo news agency says that Tanaka was 13 and living in Nagasaki when the United States dropped the atomic bomb there.

While he did not suffer major injuries himself, he lost five family members, and has said that the images of burned bodies in the devastated city are etched in his memory.

Jørgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said in announcing the award weeks ago that it was made as the “taboo against the use of nuclear weapons is under pressure.”

The committee noted that rather than embrace disarmament, nuclear powers are upgrading their arsenals, while other countries appear to be preparing to acquire nuclear weapons. It also noted that threats are being made to use the weapons in ongoing warfare, an apparent reference to Russia's threats amid its war in Ukraine.

The Japanese group's elderly members are calling for the abolishment of nuclear weapons, a message also directed at the United States.

Tanaka noted that “we are old now” but still carry a “heavy sense of responsibility” as witnesses to remind the world of the destructiveness of nuclear weapons.

"Nuclear weapons and humanity cannot coexist," he said.

Back in Japan, Empress Masako on Monday described the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Nihon Hidankyo as a key event of this year that impressed upon her the importance of global peace efforts.

In a statement, she said she “felt anew the importance for the people of the world to strive for mutual understanding and work together in order to build a peaceful world."

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Japan's Empress Masako says the Nobel for atomic bombing survivors shows the need to push for peace

Japanese Empress Masako said the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Nihon Hidankyo, an organization of survivors of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, was a key event of this year that impressed and reminded her of the importance of global peace efforts.

Masako, the wife of Emperor Naruhito, said she thought of the pain and suffering of the survivors and struggles of those who have long led the nuclear disarmament effort.

She “felt anew the importance for the people of the world to strive for mutual understanding and work together in order to build a peaceful world,” Masako said in a statement released by the Imperial Household Agency for her 61st birthday Monday.

Her comment comes one day before a group of 30 atomic bombing survivors will attend Tuesday’s Nobel prize award ceremony in Oslo.

Hidankyo was awarded for its decadeslong activism against nuclear weapons. The 30 survivors, known as hibakusha, see the prize and the international attention as a last chance to get their message to younger generations.

Terumi Tanaka, a 92-year-old survivor of the Nagasaki bombing who will speak at the award ceremony, told reporters after arriving in Oslo that he planned to talk about the survivors’ campaign and their demand that nuclear weapons must be abolished.

“I plan to make an even stronger plea for what hibakusha have sought and convey our hope for the younger generations to take over,” Tanaka said.

He has said he feels hibakushas' sufferings are not fully understood and that he hoped to raise awareness about the need to join hands to achieve a world without nuclear weapons.

The first U.S. atomic bombing killed 140,000 people in the city of Hiroshima. A second on Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945, killed another 70,000. Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, ending World War II and its nearly half-century aggression in Asia.

The war was fought in the name of Emperor Hirohito, grandfather of Naruhito.

Masako, a Harvard-educated former diplomat, has been struggling with adjustment disorder since 2003, soon after giving birth to Princess Aiko, the only child between her and Naruhito, following intense pressure to bear a male heir for the monarchy. She has made a number of public appearances this year, but palace doctors say she needs time to recover after major events or a busy schedule.

The 1947 Imperial House Law, which largely preserves conservative prewar family values, allows only males to take the throne and forces female royals who marry outside the family to give up their status.

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Japan's A-bomb survivors: from discrimination to a Nobel

Terumi Tanaka, co-chair of Nihon Hidankyo, has said it is "sad and frustrating" that so many other atomic bomb survivors were unable to share in the honour of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Survivors of the US atomic bombings of Japan will receive the Nobel Peace Prize on Tuesday but, after years of anti-nuclear campaigning and showing the world their scars, they still retain the painful memories of the discrimination they have faced.

After the 1945 US bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki led to Japan's surrender and the end of World War II, many people who survived the attacks were shunned by society.

Prejudice related to their exposure to radiation made it hard for them to find jobs and affected their prospects for marriage, leading one small group in Tokyo to build a communal grave where dozens were buried together.

There are currently around 106,800 A-bomb survivors, known as "hibakusha", in Japan, according to the government. Their average age is 85.

One of them is 90-year-old Reiko Yamada, who was 11 and lived in Hiroshima when the United States dropped the first atomic bomb on August 6, 1945, killing around 140,000 people.

That attack, and another three days later on Nagasaki where 74,000 people were killed, inflicted severe injuries and radiation-related illnesses on those who survived.

"People faced extreme discrimination" over their scars and exposure to radiation, Yamada told AFP.

"In the past, people told hibakusha, 'Don't get married' or 'Don't come close. You are infectious'," she said.

"Some people lost their whole family in Hiroshima or Nagasaki, and even though they stayed with relatives, they were stripped of what they used to own and were bullied."

Yamada, who lives in Tokyo, has assisted fellow hibakusha for nearly six decades, travelling worldwide to share her experiences.

"When I visited the homes of hibakusha, some of them would whisper to me: 'You are a hibakusha, right? I don't say anything about it to my children,'" she said.

- Shared grave -

The Peace Prize was won by Nihon Hidankyo, a large grassroots group of A-bomb survivors who campaign for their members' rights and a world free of nuclear weapons.

But the prize came too late for many early campaigners who had spoken out about their trauma and physical wounds, hoping to prevent others from suffering as they had.

Terumi Tanaka, Nihon Hidankyo's 92-year-old co-chair, told reporters recently that it was "sad and frustrating" that "so many people who stood next to me, people who led the movement" were not there to share the honour of the Nobel.

After World War II, young people including hibakusha were drawn to big cities such as Tokyo for work and education.

Many survivors chose to live in relative isolation, finding that Tokyo's dense population allowed them to "hide", said Michiko Murata, 73, who helps run Toyukai, an association of hibakusha in the capital.

"Many people struggled a lot," Murata said, often deciding not to have children because of worries over the effects of radiation.

Some members of Toyukai built a shared grave in western Tokyo in 2005 and Murata helps maintain it.

But as they get older, holding an annual mourning ceremony there has become too difficult and will end next year.

The remains of around 60 people are buried under the large, rocky gravestone.

"We inscribe here with our lives: Never tolerate nuclear bombs," a stone plaque next to the tomb says.

Many remembered there were hibakusha without relatives to give them a proper funeral.

"They lived alone. So after they died, they wanted to be with others, in a place where they can talk about Hiroshima and Nagasaki without fears of discrimination," Murata said.

- Blinding light -

Although Yamada did not experience direct discrimination, her family always kept quiet about what they lived through.

"My family never talked about it, even among ourselves," she said.

On the bright August morning when the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, she was sitting under the shade of a tree in her school's playground when she saw a gleaming B-29 bomber high in the clear sky.

Then blinding white light flashed. Hot sandy gusts blew her onto the ground.

Clouds gathered. The sky darkened. Black rain containing radioactive material began to shower over her and she suddenly felt cold.

"I didn't know what was happening," said Yamada, whose school was located far enough from ground zero to avoid total destruction.

Thousands of bloody and charred survivors soon filled the area, many of them evacuees from the city centre who died on the streets and lay there until the bodies were cleared.

Yamada later learned that around 2,300 bodies were burned on her school's grounds.

"There was no record of their names. They became 'missing individuals'," she said.

Now, as wars rage worldwide, Yamada said the Nobel has validated the survivors' work.

"I hope to pass on our dream to those who can inherit this, and continue," she said.

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