PRESS CONFERENCE
Terumi Tanaka, Co-Chairperson of Nihon Hidankyo (Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations)

14:00-15:00 Tuesday, October 22, 2024
Language: The speech and Q & A will be in Japanese with English interpretation.

Can Nuclear Weapons be Abolished?
Founded 11 years after US atomic weapons destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, instantly killing 210,000 people, the Nihon Hidankyo – or Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations – has campaigned for decades on behalf of hibakusha, the survivors of the bombings. The surprise award of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize brings global recognition for a grassroots organization that has waged what often seems like a losing battle against nuclear proliferation.

While the global stockpile of 12,000 nuclear warheads is a substantial fall from the peak of the Cold War, the number of active warheads, meaning "operationally deployed or ready to be deployed," is rising, the Asahi Shimbun noted after the Nobel award. "In reality, the world is regressing into a fresh nuclear arms race." The nuclear taboo is even being challenged in Japan, where some say it inhibits the defense policies of a nation surrounded by nuclear-armed China, Russia and North Korea.

Following the Hidankyo win, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said that while nuclear abolition is the ultimate goal, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which surrendered its nuclear weapons after the fall of the Soviet Union, showed that "deterrence is functioning". Terumi Tanaka, Co-Chairperson of Nihon Hidankyo will discuss these issues, the probable impact of the award and whether it brings the world any close to being "without nuclear weapons," as the Noble Peace Prize Committee put it.

How to attend:
Please register at front@fccj.or.jp with your name, the name of your media outlet, and FCCJ membership number. Doors open 15 minutes before the event. Please sign in and giving your name and contact details at the reception.

How to watch online: https://www.youtube.com/c/FCCJchannel/live

How to ask questions: https://forms.gle/DxsEp48X85BmGYDUA

TV crew: Please make a reservation at front@fccj.or.jp. Doors open for TV crews only at 30 minutes before the event.

Professional Activities Committee