Nobel prize for A-bomb survivors’ group boosts hope for Japanese seeking a nuke-free world

Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — For many Japanese survivors of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and their relatives, Friday’s awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to a Japanese organization against nuclear weapons gives them hope for a new momentum to push for a nuclear-free world. That starts from getting their own government to sign the nuclear weapons ban treaty. Nihon Hidankyo, an organization of survivors of the two U.S. atomic bombings, became the first Japanese recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 50 years since the late Prime Minister Eisaku Sato was honored in 1974. Hidankyo members have helped collect more than 3 million signatures in favor of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and demanded the reluctant Japanese government sign it.