Terumi Tanaka | |
|---|---|
田中 煕巳 | |
.jpg) Tanaka at 2024 Nobel Week | |
| Born | (1932-04-29)29 April 1932 (age 92) |
| Nationality | Japanese |
| Alma mater | Tokyo University of Science |
| Organization | Nihon Hidankyo |
Terumi Tanaka (田中 煕巳,Tanaka Terumi, born 29 April 1932)[1] is a Japanese anti-nuclear and anti-war activist and former professor. He is ahibakusha, a survivor of theatomic bombing of Nagasaki, and is the secretary general ofNihon Hidankyo, a Japan-wide organisation of atomic and hydrogen bomb sufferers.[2] He lives inNiiza, Saitama.On October 11, 2024, theJapan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo), to which they belong as a representative, was awarded theNobel Peace Prize.[3]
He was born on 29 April 1932 inManchuria in China, which was then under Japanese occupation as the puppet state ofManchukuo.[4] He later moved toNagasaki.
Tanaka was 13 years old when Nagasaki was bombed, and his home was around 3.2 kilometres from the hypocenter. He was blown through several panes of glass but did not suffer major injuries. He lost his grandfather, two uncles, an aunt, and a cousin in the bombing. He personally cremated his aunt in a nearby field after she died several days after the bombing.[5]
He was an associate professor in the school of engineering atTohoku University.[4]
Tanaka has been involved withhibakusha activism since 1974, and he became secretary-general of theJapan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations in 2000.[6]
Tanaka has called upon the U.S. to offer an apology for the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.[7] He advocates fornuclear disarmament and holds that the use of nuclear weapons is never justified.[7][8][9][10] He has also condemnedNorth Korean nuclear tests.[11]
He has also spoken out against discrimination against atomic bomb survivors and their descendants.[12]
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After the 2011Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, Tanaka and Hidankyo called for the decommissioning of reactors that had already been shut down.[13]
Along with other atomic bomb survivors Tanaka attended the May 2016 speech of US PresidentBarack Obama in Hiroshima, responding positively[14] and praising it as being "wonderful", although he regretted that Obama had not been able to make progress towards a nuclear free world.[7][15] After reading a translation of the speech and fully understanding the contents, he regretted praising the speech, stating that Obama's abstract language such as "Death fell from the sky" was unacceptable, given the bombing was a deliberate act by the US.[16][17]
In January 2017 he announced that he would retire in June at the Nikon Hidankyo General Meeting.[18]
