nomorehiroshimas!
VOL. 51 No.1

(ISSN 0029-0823)

FEBRUARY 2008

We Call for a “Global Action Campaign for a
Nuclear Weapon-Free World” Toward 2010
Japan Council against A and H Bombs (Gensuikyo) has called for a “Global Action Campaign for a Nuclear
Weapon-Free World” toward the 2010 NPT Review Conference. At the same time, it has made a renewed
determination to turn Japan into a country that stands on the Three Non-nuclear Principles and Article 9 of theConstitution. The 80th National Board Meeting of Japan Gensuikyo, held on February 9 - 10, 2008, put forwardthe 2008 Action Plan consisting of two pillars.
Abolition of nuclear weapons remains an urgent and vital task for the survival of humankind. All nations,especially the nuclear weapon sates, have a responsibility to implement immediately the “unequivocal undertaking
to eliminate nuclear weapons”, on which nuclear weapon states themselves agreed in May 2000.
In this context, we decided to call upon all anti-nuclear and peace movements, NGOs, local municipalities,
governments of the world and global citizens to reach a universal consensus on complete prohibition andelimination of nuclear weapons toward the 2010 NPT Review Conference, which is the next important
opportunity to press for the implementation of the undertaking. For this purpose, we will propose a “Global
Action Campaign for a Nuclear Weapon-Free World”. Based on the tradition and lessons of the anti-A andH-bomb movement, this campaign aims at developing grass-roots anti-nuclear opinion, with the abolition of
nuclear weapons as the common task and signature campaign and A-bomb exhibitions as the common forms ofactions.
As the second pillar of our action, we decided to continue to urge the Japanese government to play a leadingrole for the abolition of nuclear weapons in good faith as the government of the A-bombed country. At the sametime, we will develop grass-roots movements and cooperation with a broad range of people, in order to make aJapan that will sincerely practice the Three Non-Nuclear Principles and Article 9 of the Constitution, oppose theuse of military force and nuclear threats, and make efforts to achieve world peace.

People on Coming-of-Age Day support “Swift Abolition” of nuclear weapons. (January 14, Nagasaki)In this issue of No More Hiroshimas:
1. We call for a “Global Action Campaign for a Nuclear Weapon-Free World Toward 2010”……………………. 1
2. 2008 World Conference against A & H Bombs: For a Nuclear Weapon-Free, Peaceful and Just World……. 2
3. March 1 Bikini Day: A Starting Point of Our Campaign Toward 2010 ………………………………………….. 3
4. Special Feature: Collective Lawsuits of A-Bomb Sufferers ……………………………………………………… 4
5. Japan Gensuikyo 2008 Action Plan ……………………………………………………………………………….17

For a Nuclear Weapon-Free, Peaceful and Just World:
Let Us Start Mobilization Campaign Toward the 2008
World Conference against A & H Bombs
The 61st General Meeting of the Organizing Committee of the World Conference against A & H bombs took
place on February 14 and it was decided to hold the 2008 World Conference against A & H Bombs from August 2
to 9, 2008, in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The committee also issued the call for participation in and support for
the World Conference. (www10.plala.or.jp/antiatom/en/index.html)
Focusing on the 2010 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference, the determination to starta movement toward a nuclear weapons-free world has been growing among world NGOs, international and local
governments, and campaigns are already starting.
In the lead up to the 2010 NPT Review Conference, the 2008 World Conference is required to generate vitality
and launch initiatives to mobilize world public opinion and actually move international politics forward in the
direction of nuclear weapons abolition.
Therefore, Japan Gensuikyo shall make an all-out effort to make the 2008 Conference a place where thefollowing three tasks should be fulfilled: (1) National and local governments and other public bodies and NGOs,
grass-roots movements and individuals work together and deepen exchanges beyond differences of thought andbelief; (2) Participants send out to the world the reality of the A-bombing and Hibakusha’s desire for peace, agree
on the course and joint activities to achieve a “nuclear weapon-free world”; and (3) People of all generations join
in solidarity and play their respective roles in the conference, where young participants can foster hope for their
future.

International Youth Rally “Let Us Get Rid of Nuclear Weapons 2008”
The International Youth Rally “Let Us Get Rid of Nuclear Weapons 2008” will be held in Hiroshima andNagasaki for the 4th time in conjunction with the World Conference. With the theme of “Inheriting from
Hibakusha and Transmitting to World,” young participants will learn the reality of the A-bombs through listening
to the Hibakusha’s testimonies and discussing how to expand movements against nuclear weapons among youth
toward 2010, bringing together the experiences in different parts of the world.
Provisional Schedule of the 2008 World Conference against A & H Bombs
August 1 (Fri):
Information meeting for overseas delegates (evening)
August 2 (Sat) - 4 (Mon): International Meeting, 2008 World Conference (Hiroshima)
August 4 (Mon) - 6 (Wed):
2008 World Conference against A & H Bombs (Hiroshima)
August 7 (Thu) - 9 (Sat): 2008 World Conference against A & H Bombs (Nagasaki)
Provisional Dates of the International Youth Rally“Let Us Get Rid of Nuclear Weapons 2008”
August 4 (Mon):
International Youth Rally in Hiroshima
August 8 (Fri):International Youth Rally in Nagasaki

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Let Us Make This Year’s Bikini Day
A Starting Point of Our Campaign Toward 2010
We announce holding the 2008 March 1 Bikini Day events on March 1 and 2. They consist of the 54th
March 1 Bikini Day Rally and International Forum sponsored on March 1 and workshops and the Plenary of theJapan Gensuikyo National Conference on March 2. The theme of these events is “Let’s renew ourdetermination to achieve the abolition of nuclear weapons; Let’s adopt the wishes of the Hibakusha and thevictims of the Bikini H-bomb test; and Let’s start a nationwide effort to make a success of the 2008 World
Conference against A & H Bombs”.
Bikini Day is an occasion to recall the victims of the 1954 hydrogen bomb test and to make a fresh
determination to work for peace and against nuclear weapons, in commemoration of the birth of the movement
against A & H Bombs. On that day 54 years ago, the US Bravo H-bomb test, detonated at the Bikini Atoll in the
Marshall Islands, contaminated a huge area ranging from the Western Pacific to the Indian Ocean by radiation
and brought about enormous sacrifice and damage. Japan’s anti-A & H-bomb movement was born fromnationwide protest against the devastation.
This year’s Bikini Day has a special task, which is to start of a two-year campaign toward the 2010 NPT
Review Conference. Taking advantage of rapidly growing public opinion, which urges the implementation of
the “unequivocal undertaking to abolish nuclear weapons,” agreed to by the Nuclear Weapons States in the 2000
NPT Review Conference, we have to work for making this happen in 2010 as an actual move leading to theabolition of nuclear weapons.
Relating to the ongoing attempts to revise Article 9 of the Constitution and reinforce US bases stationed inJapan, arguments are being made, such as: “How should Japan contribute to the international community?”;“What should be Japan’s future course in today’s world?”; and “What about the security of Asia and Japan?” In
this context, the International Forum, with the theme of “A path toward a nuclear-free and peaceful Asia andJapan“, will hold a discussion focusing on how to create a nuclear-free and peaceful Japan and Asia, in opposition
to the dangerous moves promoted by US, based on its strategy: “Those who control Asia will dominate the wholeworld.” Leading peace activists of the US, China, South Korea and Japan will discuss and strengthen solidarity
and cooperation among each other.
The Bikini Day Events will have a leading activist from the US, now getting worldwide attention for its
presidential election, a South Korean advocate for establishing a Northeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone, arepresentative from China, a country that is key to creating a peaceful and nuclear weapon-free Asia. A
representative of Rongelap Atoll, most affected by the Bravo test in the Marshall Islands, will also take part in theevents and speak about ongoing efforts to build Rongelap Peace Museum, which is aimed at passing knowledge ofthe nuclear damage on to younger generations.
The International Youth Rally: “Let Us Get Rid of Nuclear Weapons 2008 in Shizuoka” will be held as well.
In order to develop solidarity among young people in Japan to make a success of the Youth Rally in August,young people coming from across Japan will hold discussion on the theme of “Nuclear Weapons, Peace andPoverty -- Let’s join hands with a broad range of young people”. Students of Egypt and South Korea will join
the rally.

Schedule of the Bikini Day Events:
March1:
Peace March to the grave of Kuboyama Aikichi(Fisherman victimized in the Bikini tragedy)
54th March 1 Bikini Day 2008 Rally (Yaizu)
International Forum, Japan Gensuikyo National
Conference (Yaizu)
Related event: International Youth Rally 2008
in Shizuoka
March 2:Workshops and Plenary, Japan Gensuikyo
National Conference (Shizuoka)
Youth Forum in 2007 Bikini Day Gensuikyo Conference

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Special Feature: Collective Lawsuits of A-Bomb Sufferers

Abused Human Rights of the A-bomb Victims -A Drastic Change in the Government’s Administrative
Stance is Inevitable
Hiroshi Taka, Japan Gensuikyo
The collective lawsuits of the Hibakusha, A-bombsufferers, now being fought at 15 regional courts and 6
high courts, are coming to a crucial stage.
The decision has been given already at 6 regional
courts in Osaka, Hiroshima, Nagoya, Sendai, Tokyo andKumamoto. Including the Osaka and Hiroshima courts,
where all the plaintiffs won their cases, all the rulings at
the 6 courts have judged in favor of all or almost allplaintiffs, and have all criticized the current practice ofthe Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, which is no
more than mechanically applying its self-madedosimetry* table to each case. (*Estimate of radiationdose to the various organs of each survivor)
In summer last year, facing the successive defeats atthe courts and the mounting public support for theplaintiffs, coupled with the serious setback of the ruling
Liberal Democrats and Komeito at the elections of theHouse of Councilors towards the end of July 2007, Abe
Shinzo, the then prime minister, promised that his
government would review the A-bomb disease related
administration. The political parties, both in and out ofgovernment, launched their own taskforces, project teams
or sub-committees to review the problem in time for thecompilation of next fiscal year’s budget (2008), and put
forward proposals that would lead to an expanded
framework for the A-bomb disease recognition.
The Health Ministry, whose initial move was toadamantly cling to the old criteria with minor
adjustments, became unable to sustain its position, andput forward a new document entitled, “A New Image of
the Screening” in January this year to change the policyof screening. The “New Image” says that because the
Hibakusha are aging and because the effects of radiation
emerge differently from person to person, it will “revise
the screening based on the cause-probability assessment
and proceed with recognition more speedily andpositively”.
This is a big step forward. But does this really solve
the problem? What is the response of the Hibakusha
and the anti-nuclear movement that supports them?

in the relief of the victims and were contaminated; and (4)those with prenatal exposure, and promises to provide
various kinds of assistance to them in accordance with
their problems arising from the damage.
Nevertheless, the reality of the administrative practice,even in light of still inadequate law provisions, is far from“comprehensive support”. The extremely small numberof cases approved by the ministry as A-bomb diseases is atypical example. At present, the total number of thesurviving Hibakusha is some 250,000, of whom many still
suffer from deep wounds both in mind and body, and areoften attacked by complicated health troubles, including
cancers, whose rate of occurrence still runs high. Yet
the number of the cases that are recognized by theministry as A-bomb diseases and given allowances islimited to only about 2,000, representing 0.8% of the total
number of Hibakusha.
Akira Kai, a Hiroshima Hibakusha who won at the
Nagoya District Court last year, was a trainee of the
Navy’s Submarine School when the bomb was dropped
over Hiroshima. He was some 20km from the city.
Ordered by a superior officer, he went into the city on
August 6. He proceeded near the center of the burnt andruined city. Sleepless, he engaged in relief work for two days.
After that, he continued working for the relief of the injured.
On the evening of August 6, he suffered acutediarrhea, followed by bleeding from the gums, then bydepilation. He was further attacked by many slumps
and disorders. From 1949 onwards, he had to have 13
operations for his cervical lymphoma.
Then hecontracted a malignant thyroid lymphoma.
Despite all these he was denied the Hibakusha
certificate because he was unable to find witnesses. It
was not until 1995, 50 years after the bombing, that hefinally obtained the Hibakusha certificate on theevidential documents he had collected.
But hisapplication for the recognition of his thyroid lymphoma
as A-bomb disease was rejected by the government, after
he waited for five years. The reason for the rejection has
never been given, as is the norm for the government.

Government Refuses to Recognize Most Diseases as
Caused by the Bombs
The current Hibakusha-Aid Law was enacted in 1994
based on the demand from the Hibakusha for the purposeof “providing comprehensive support for the aging
Hibakusha in their health, medical care and welfare
under the state responsibility”.
The law, inheriting the preceding two A-bomb relatedlaws, defines as Hibakusha four categories of people: (1)those directly hit by the bombing; (2) those who entered
the ruined city after the bombing; (3) those who engaged

Dosimetry System Disregards the Effects of ResidualRadioactivity
The trials of the lawsuits have brought to the surface
the inhumane attitude prevailing in the Hibakusha related
administration, as well as the anachronistic cognizance ofthe effect of the A-bombs.
One is a criterion for the evaluation of the affectedradiation dose called “DS86” (Dosimetry System adopted
in 1986), which the ministry applies to determine whether
or not to recognize the person as having been afflictedwith A-bomb disease. In fact, the ministry has rejected

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FEBRUARY 20084

almost every application one after another bymechanically applying this system to each case.
Scientists and medical doctors who testified in courtthat the dosimetry system in question was based on
unworkable data taken from nuclear tests and not from
actual studies of the sufferers, focusing only on theinitially released radiation. True that in 2001, theministry
introducedanewcriterion
called“Cause-Probability Evaluation”. But underlying thisseemingly new system was the same DS86, with theresult being even smaller number of recognitions.
Actually the ministry has constantly refused to take
into consideration the effects of the residual radioactivity.
It has ignored the nuclear fission products (deadly ashes)from the A-bomb explosion or unexploded uranium (inHiroshima) and plutonium (in Nagasaki), or even the
induced radioactivity from initial radiation from the
explosion, on the grounds that the induced radiation canbe produced only within the reach of the initial radiation.
As a result, the applications of the 2nd and 3rd
category Hibakusha, i.e., those who later went into theruined city and were affected by the radiation and those
who engaged in relief activities outside the city and were
contaminated from the patients, were all turned down,even though many of them were suffering from cancers
and leukemia. Even a large number of the Hibakusha
directly exposed to the explosion also automatically had
their applications denied on the same grounds, except for
the very small number of people who suffered in very
close proximity to the epicenter.

the bombings, the basic stance of the government remains
unchanged from the position taken by the occupation
forces.

The Position of the Government vis-à-vis Nuclear
Weapons Questioned
Will the “New Image of the Screening” announced by
the government relieve the ailing Hibakusha from
A-bomb diseases? The statement of Terumi Tanaka,
Secretary General of the Japan Confederation of A-and
H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo) saysthat he appreciates it in that the current screening would
be “fully changed”.
He expresses a strong dissatisfaction, however, withthe fact the “New Image” still tries to draw a division line
among the Hibakusha, instead of making all Hibakusha
the subject of the rescue effort. It, in fact, sets a limit of“about 3.5km from the epicenter” for those directly hit by
the bomb, and “entering the city and approaching nearground zero within some 100 hours (after the explosion)”for those who later entered the city, whose diseases canbe recognized as A-bomb diseases.
The diseases
recognized as affected are also limited to cancer,
leukemia, hyperparathyroidism, cataracts and myocardial
infarction originating from the exposure.
The symptoms of A-bomb diseases differ from person
to person, and in the screening process, it is essential to
make a comprehensive review of the condition of
A-bomb exposure, acute symptoms, clinical history ofeach patient, and the actual condition of the illness basedon which the application is made. This has been
repeatedly pointed out by the court rulings of the past 13
cases in favor of the plaintiff Hibakusha, including those
filed before the collective lawsuits.
Some estimates show that if the “New Image” isapplied, about ten times as many Hibakusha as now will
be recognized as A-bomb disease patients. However,
the reason for most Hibakusha having brought their cases
to the court is not only because they wanted government
recognition of their A-bomb diseases and resulting
allowances. The vital reason for them is that they want
their government to face the serious damage caused by
the A-bombing as a consequence from the war, which theJapanese government itself launched, and shift the stanceof its administration towards the total abolition of nuclear
weapons and peace.
The government is making gestures toward acompromise
inthe
A-bombdisease-related
administration. But its policy to place Japan’s security
in nuclear weapons under the US “nuclear umbrella”
stays unchanged. US warships, under the policy of“neither confirming nor denying” the presence of nuclear
weapons on board, call at Japanese ports frequently, as if
mocking Japan’s “Three Non-Nuclear Principles” of notpossessing, not manufacturing and not allowing thebringing-in of nuclear weapons. Still the Japanese
Government defends them, and even assists them.
Now, the support of the people for the Hibakusha intheir desire for a nuclear weapon-free world is as
important as their demand for the recognition of the
A-bomb diseases.

Inherited Abuse of the Hibakusha from the
Occupation Forces
With the development of the exchanges of statements
and testimonies at the courts, the basic perceptions of theJapanese Government on the damage wrought by the
A-bomb has seen broad daylight. One of them is seen ina statement of a government expert submitted to the
Yokohama District Court in February 2007, which says,“Most of the plaintiffs were hardly exposed to the
A-bomb radiation in Hiroshima or Nagasaki”, or “It isutterly ridiculous to claim such diseases that can be
widely seen among ordinary people as having beencaused by the radiation”. These experts even claim that
because the effect of the residual radiation was negligible,
heavy diarrhea that attacked many sufferers was due tothe “extreme state of malnutrition” or “dysentery”, andtheir depilation was due to the inconvenience in taking
baths and lack of shampoo.
In September 1945, Lieutenant General Thomas F.
Farrell, the deputy leader of the Manhattan Project,declared at a press conference in Tokyo said that thecontaminated area by radiation from the A-bomb waswithin the range of area completely destroyed by thebomb, and therefore, “Everyone … who was fated to diefrom the atomic bomb has already died.”This
statement, made in the midst of the people of Hiroshima
and Nagasaki experiencing agony from acute symptoms,
actually closed off all rescue efforts from outside. The
statement of the government-sponsored experts in 2007
revealed that despite over 62 years having passed since5

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Our Demand on the Japanese Government in Reviewing the A-Bomb Disease
Recognition System
September 20, 2007
Japan Confederation of A-and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations(Nihon Hidankyo)
e. Angina pectoris where myocardial infarction or
coronary arteriosclerosis is recognized;
f. Fibroid lung;g. Hypothyroidism or hyperparathyroidism(hypercalcemia);h. Severe aftereffects from burns or external
injuries;i. Microcephaly of those with prenatal exposure toradiation.
(4) “Diseases to be recognized” should be added withmore diseases with the development of medical
knowledge.
(5) In case a Hibakusha contracts a disease which is
not recognized by the ordinance, but the causation fromradiation of it cannot be denied, and currently requires
medical treatment, the Minister of Health should
recognize the condition as an A-bomb disease after thescreening by the above Working Group. In certifying
these cases, screening should be made with due
consideration of the criterion set out by the court rulings,
based on the spirit of the Hibakusha Aid Law aimed atgiving relief to the Hibakusha.

1. To withdraw all appeals filed by the governmentand bring all cases to settlement
In reviewing the A-bomb disease recognition system,
the government should accept in a sincere manner thedecisions of the courts ruling that the “Guideline for
Screening the A-bomb Disease” based on the “Probabilityof Causation Table” underestimates the A-bomb damage.
We urge the government to immediately withdraw its
appeals on the 6 rulings and bring to settlement all thepending cases without delay.
2. To abolish the “Guideline for Screening”
The current criterion for A-bomb disease recognitionis based on the “Guideline for Screening the A-bomb
Disease” (the “Guideline”), which was prepared by theWorking Group on the Medical Issues of the A-bomb
Victims (the “Working Group”) of the Health Ministry’s
Examination Committee for Certification of Sickness andDisability on May 25, 2001. We demand that this“Guideline”, now proven bankrupt by all the court
rulings, be abolished immediately.
3. To establish a recognition system based on the
new criterion for recognition.
We demand that the current A-bomb diseaserecognition system be revised into a new system based onsuch new criterion as in the following:(1) As a new “criterion for recognition”, we proposethat the injuries or diseases on which causation fromradiation can generally be affirmed should be designatedas “diseases to be recognized as caused by A-bombs”, andif the applicant is in a state of requiring medical treatment,
the Minister of Health and Welfare should grant
recognition without screening the Hibakusha at the“Working Group.”(2) “Diseases to be recognized as caused by A-bombs”
should be designated by government ordinance.
(3) The illness that should be included in the “diseases
to be recognized as A-bomb illness” set by the ordinanceare as follows:a. Solid cancers of all parts, including those tumorsof the central nerve system, leukemia, lymphoma
malignum, multiple myeloma and other malignant
tumors of blood-forming organs;b. Blood diseases such as leukopenia of unknown
cause, intractable anemia, chronic myelodysplastic
syndrome;c. Chronic liver damages (chronic hepatitis andcirrhosis hepatic), including B and C virus hepaticdiseases;d. Cataracts accompanying posterior subcapsular
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FEBRUARY 2008

4. To reform the Working Group on the Medical
Issues of the A-Bomb Victims
The Working Group on the Medical Issues of the
A-bomb Victims of the Examination Committee for
Certification of Sickness and Disability should consist of
the members with enough knowledge of radiation effects
to the human body and experience of treating A-bombdisease patients. Half of the committee members should
be appointed with a recommendation from the A-bomb
victims’ organizations.

Hibakusha submitting petitions to the Health Ministry6Statement on Behalf of Nihon Hidankyo Before the Commission Regarding the
A-Bomb Disease Recognition System
September 28, 2007
TANAKA Terumi, Secretary General
Japan Confederation of A-and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations(Nihon Hidankyo)
government to correct the current recognition
administration? It was because the government criteria
for recognition is so distant from the reality of the
Hibakusha’s experiences and conditions, and we could nolonger accept the way the Japanese government
continued to ignore the Hibakusha suffering from
A-bomb diseases.
Although in July 2000 Ms.
MATSUYA Hideko won her case at the Supreme Court
after 12 years of fighting to achieve A-bomb diseaserecognition, the government continued to reject
Hibakushas’ applications by setting out a new and morestrict “Guideline for Screening”, distorting the mandateof the Supreme Court decision.
The fact that for more than 20 years the number of
Hibakusha recognized as having A-bomb diseases
remained at just over 2,000 has made us believe that theJapanese government tries to limit the number only tomeet the budget allocated for the Hibakusha measure.
This led us to believe that the Japanese government,
based on its energy and security policy of depending on
nuclear power and the “nuclear umbrella”, tries tounderestimate the effects of radiation to belittle the actual
A-bomb damage, and thus does not make A-bombdisease recognition commensurate with the real conditionof Hibakusha.
As I noted already, the decisions handed down by the
6 district courts all pointed out that the “Guideline for
Screening” was wrong. The Japanese government,
however, appealed these cases to high courts.
Hibakusha are aging and the plaintiffs are suffering fromserious diseases. Already 36 plaintiffs have died during
the 3 and half years since the lawsuits were initiated.
We have no time. We cannot wait for the time whenscience will have fully explained all aspects of the damage
caused by the A-bombs.
Therefore, we have no other means than to demand asolution of the problem through a political decision
without any further delay.
The political decision that needs to be taken by thegovernment is a choice between the two: Whether toabandon the Hibakusha if the relations between the
disease of each Hibakusha and radiation cannot be
explained just because the mechanism of radiation
causing harm on the human body has not been fully
made clear, or, on the other hand, to rescue all the
Hibakusha even though is not fully explained.
Fortunately, all political parties have supported ourrequests. The Liberal Democratic Party has set up a
sub-committee on this issue as well as the Komeito Party.
A project team of the ruling parties has been created to
examine the issue. On September 26, they held a

1. Introduction
First of all, thank you for giving us the opportunity to
be heard at the first session of the Commission Regarding
the A-bomb Disease Recognition System.
My name is TANAKA Terumi, Secretary-General of
Nihon Hidankyo. Nihon Hidankyo is the only nationalorganization of A-bomb survivors of Hiroshima andNagasaki, consisting of Hibakusha organizations in 47
prefectures.
I experienced the Nagasaki A-bombing at the age of
13. I escaped death, as I lived 3.2 km from the
hypocenter. Five members of two families of myrelatives, including my grandfather and aunts, however,lived close to the hypocenter and lost their lives. Threedays after the bombing, I found the remains of my aunt,
which I cremated with my own hands. It was a sad andheavy experience for me, just a 13 year-old boy.
The reason why this commission was established isthat on August 5, 2007, the day before the 62ndcommemoration of the A-bombing, former Prime
Minister Abe met the representatives of Hibakusha in
Hiroshima and promised to revise the policy on A-bombdisease recognition by consulting professionals on thisissue.
The government was receiving lots of criticism about
former minister of defense, Mr. Kyuma, who said that it
could not be helped that an atomic bomb was dropped.
In addition, it has not changed its policy of appealing thecases over the A-bomb disease recognition to higher
courts, despite its consecutive defeats at the district court
level. Such half measure policies of the government
aroused criticism from not only Hibakusha but politicalparties, including those in the government, mass media
and a broad range of people.
As a result, thegovernment finally was forced to listen to these criticisms,
leading to Mr. Abe’s decision.
2. Collective Lawsuits Calls for Drastic Revision of
the A-Bomb Disease Recognition System
Hidankyo has been working hard to mobilize the
Hibakusha throughout Japan to join the collective
lawsuits, aiming to drastically revise the A-bomb diseaserecognition system.
The first lawsuit was filed 3 and a half years ago, andas of September 21, 2007, 283 plaintiffs from 22
prefectures have been fighting in 15 district courts and 6
high courts. The cases now pending at the 6 high courts
are the ones appealed by the Japanese government afterits defeats in Osaka, Hiroshima, Nagoya, Sendai, Tokyoand Kumamoto District Courts.
Why did we resort to legal battles to urge the Japanese

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hearing on our requests.
We are only one step away from getting on track
leading to a political solution, if you, the experts on theissue can give a green light. I hope you will take thesethings into consideration in examining the issues before
this commission.

A-bombings, the present Hibakusha Aid Law
compensates only for those induced by radiation.
Besides, it only takes into account the effects of initialradiation and minimal residual radioactivity, which arevery different from what the Hibakusha actuallyexperienced.
As a matter of fact, we Hibakusha know first-handthat many people around us who entered the two cities
from outside to undertake relief and recovery operations
or who walked around near the hypocenter to rescue thevictims after being exposed to the bomb radiation at
distant places also fell ill, suffered from acute symptoms
or eventually died. Other people, who engaged in relief
work at first-aid stations located far from the two
A-bombed cities, also lost their health. The Ministry of
Health, Labor, and Welfare continued to disregard the
A-bomb illness of these people.
But just as the case of one of the plaintiffs, thedecision on whom to reject the recognition was reversed
at the Hiroshima District Court, the deaths of manyfemale students who entered the city from as far as
Miyoshi City to give relief to the victims 13 days after thebombing cannot be fully explained without considering
the serious effects of residual radioactivity.
At the Courts, the government insists that the acute
symptoms like hair loss and diarrhea that distal
Hibakusha and entrant Hibakusha suffered were causedby stress, malnutrition or unsanitary environment and areirrelevant to the A-bomb radiation.
We wonder,
however, if these symptoms or diseases occurred after theGreat Tokyo Air Raids. I have never heard of any story
like that.
This suggests that the radiation produced andirradiated on human beings by the atomic bombs is not at
all simple radioactive rays as the Health Ministry believes.
In this regards, even specialists could commit a major
error in apprehending the effects of radiation if they fail toconsider the devastating aftermaths of the A-bomb
explosion and the entire picture of the damage on the sideof those humans who suffered the bombs, in other words,on the basis of the real condition of what happened underthe mushroom clouds.
The shock wave of the atomic bomb destroyedbuildings instantly, and the building materials werereduced to dust to soar in the air. However, before thecollapse, building materials had become radioactive by
induced radioactivity caused by neutrons, and the
Hibakusha inhaled too much of the induced-radioactive
dust. At the close proximity of the hypocenter, humanbodies themselves must have become radioactive by
induced radiation. Observing the symptoms appearing
in Hibakusha, we used to say at that time that the Pika
(flash and explosion of atomic bomb) contained
poisonous gas, without any knowledge about radiation.
In addition to the induced radiation, radioactive fallout inthe form of black rain and black soot showered over theburned-out cities.
Uranium and plutonium, left
unfissioned and which once drifted upward in the fireball
eventually fell over an extended area in the form of
micro-particles.
“The Guideline for Screening” takes into accounts
only the residual radioactivity of the area where the black
rain fell.
But it proves to be a significant

3. Nihon Hidankyo’s Demand on How the New
Recognition System Should Be
Our demands to the government are as follows:(1) To retract the appeals to High Courts and settle all thelawsuits;(2) To abolish the “Guideline for Screening” currently
used in the A-bomb disease recognition;(3) To set up a recognition system based on a new“criterion for recognition”;(4) To reform the medical Working Group.
Regarding (3), as a new “criterion for recognition”,
we propose that the injuries or diseases on which
causation from radiation can generally be affirmed should
be designated by ordinance as the “diseases to berecognized as caused by A-bombs”, and if the applicant is
actually in a state of requiring medical treatment, theMinister of Health and Welfare should grant recognition
without screening to the Hibakusha. We set out nine
types of injuries and diseases as the diseases to berecognized as caused by A-bombs”. In addition, we
present our specific demands regarding how the screening
should be conducted, when the disease of the applicant ison the list set by law but its radiation causality cannot bedenied.
4．The whole picture of the damage from radiation as
the reason of our demands
Regarding the grounds for these demands, as one of
the Hibakusha who actually witnessed the unimaginable
devastation caused by the atomic bombs, I would like todescribe the overall picture of the damage from the
A-bombing and the effects of radiation as a particular
aspect of the atomic bombs.
The Atomic Bomb Victims Demand that Hidankyo
established in 1985 depicts the actual situation ofradiation exposure as follows:“…heaps of burnt bodies inflamed and swollen;bodies with eyeballs protruding and burst bellies;
burnt-out streetcars with their passengers; people
trapped and incinerated under collapsed buildings;
lines of ghost-like figures with skin hanging downin strips. It was a sight so horrible as never to be
imagined in this world. We could save neither
children nor parents, nor even give water to thepeople in the throes of death. We can neverforget the bitterness and frustration of being able to
do nothing to help them.
People who survived the bombing, and those
who entered the city to search for relatives or help
victims were also struck down by radiation anddied after losing their hair and bleeding.
Even survivors continue to bear the burdens withthose atomic bombs.“ (English text cited from theWebsite of Nihon Hidankyo)
Among all these hellish damages from theNO MORE HIROSHIMAS!

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underestimation,
considering
the
above
facts.
Furthermore, the radioactivity the Guideline adopted wasjust estimated from the residual radioactivity with a long
half-life, barely left to be examined more than one monthafter the bombing and after heavy rain and a typhoon
washed away the surface soil. By then, the radioactive
fallout was accumulated on the surface soil and emitted
radiation not only from there but also from human bodysurfaces, for the fallout was lifted in the air as fine
powders or micro-particles and attached to clothes orbody surfaces.
It also exposed the Hibakusha toradiation from within the body, after they inhaled or took
such radioactive dust and substance into the body fromthe nose or mouth.
We can never accept the Guideline because its criteria
for recognition were established based on the “probabilityof causation,” a statistical value representing theattribution of A-bomb radiation to the development of aparticular disease, derived from epidemiological studies
based only on the initial radiation, and such criteria aremechanically applied to the screening process. The
wrongness of the Guideline has already been pointed out
by the decision of the six district courts.
These are the reasons why we demand the repeal of
the present Guideline, which disregards the residual
radioactivity and internal exposure from it. We cannot
but conclude that the Guideline was created with anintention to underestimate the A-bomb damage.

of the A-bomb damage.
In the course of recognition, if the change in thehealth condition before and after the exposure, thechange of the conditions to date, and the present clinicalconditionsoftheapplicantsareconsidered
comprehensively, many cases of application that the
Health Ministry has rejected will be recognized as
A-bomb diseases.
The U.S. government enacted a compensation law for
veterans who stayed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki after
September 1945, and compensated them for 21 types ofcancer.
For more simplified new recognition criteria based on
today’s level of radiology, Hidankyo urges thegovernment to set by ordinance a list of injuries or illness
as “diseases to be recognized as caused by A-bombs”, andrequest the Minister of Health to recognize the
Hibakusha’s illness without screening, if the applicant issuffering from those diseases and is in a condition torequire medical treatment.

6. Conclusion
As the basic premise of the discussion on what kind ofrecognition criterion is necessary and how the recognition
process should be, we ask the government to take theposition that the State is responsible for giving relief to thevictims, since the atomic illness is a damage caused by the
A-bombs used in the war. Hibakusha are demanding
State compensation for the A-bomb damages. We haveconducted campaigns to have the government establish a
Hibakusha aid law based on the principle of State
compensation. In the past, such a bill opposition parties
submitted was once passed in the Upper House, but was
finally rejected by the government and the Liberal
Democratic Party. Within the existing legal framework,
an “A-bomb disease recognition system” is the only one
through which the State admits the damage as caused by
the atomic bombs.
Therefore, the Hibakusha who have many kinds ofdiseases or suffer serious illness want the government torecognize that their illness stems from the A-bombs.
Allow me to repeat our request: Upon revising andimproving the recognition system, I would very much like
you to learn the actual conditions of the A-bomb damage,and strongly hope that the members of the committee
visit the A-bomb museums once again. Also, as Health
Minister Masuzoe promised, responding to therecommendation of the LDP subcommittee, I would liketo ask you to approve, by the end of 2007, the proposed
revision that we seek and which is supported by allpolitical parties. This concludes my requests on behalfof Nihon Hidankyo. Thank you.

5. How to estimate the effects of the residual
radioactivity
Now, is it possible to estimate the effects of theresidual radioactivity quantitatively (or numerically)?
You can say it’s almost impossible.
The U.S.
government, which dropped the atomic bombs, and also
the Japanese government have not conducted any
systematic studies. In fact, the U.S. denied the effects ofresidual radiation and even prohibited investigating it,
which was revealed recently from official U.S.
documents.
An officer of the Ministry of Health once said, “Theeffects of residual radiation are inestimable, therefore, wecannot give official recognition as A-bomb diseases to theillnesses allegedly caused by residual radiation”. How
can we accept this? If you can’t make a quantitative
estimation, qualitative evaluation (or estimation fromoverall circumstances) will be necessary.
At the six district courts where the decisions havebeen made so far, the judges ruled in favor of theplaintiffs, recognizing the complicated impacts of residual
radiation by listening to the plaintiffs’ claims and thetestimonies of many scientists both sides offered, and by
watching visual images that showed the actual conditions

9

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Statement of the Hibakusha Before the Commission Regarding the A-Bomb
Disease Recognition System
September 28, 2007
KAI Akira, Hibakusha
Plaintiff, Aichi Hibakusha Lawsuit for the Recognition of A-Bomb Disease

My name is KAI Akira, one of the Hibakusha
plaintiffs of the lawsuit filed at the Aichi District Court.
Since I had a surgery to remove thyroid lymphoma, you
may have difficulty in hearing me. So, please excuse me
if I am not articulate enough.

through our frequent encounters at the toilet. Of some
50 classmates, 25 students, including myself, who hadgone to Hiroshima, and some others who had not were
suffering from diarrhea. I also found that some civilians
who had come to Onoura to join the rescue effort were
having the same symptoms. When we reported to thesenior officer that we were having a group infection ofdiarrhea, he said he too was suffering from it.
This was followed by fatigue, which I initially thought
was from the extreme hard work. We did continue towork our head off since we had our orders. But thefatigue never went away even after my discharge from themilitary, and indeed continued for the rest of my life.

1.
On August 6 of 1945, I was at Onoura,
Hiroshima. I was 18 and a trainee of the Navy’s
Submarine School. At 8:15 in the morning that day, we
saw an enormous flash of light and heard the sound of theblast even as far as 20 kilometers from Hiroshima city.
Soon after, we were told that the city had been
bombarded and were ordered to go into the city to join
the rescue effort. We got on a truck to the Koi Railway
Station, then walked along the city tram rail track andarrived at the city center by the afternoon of that day.
For the next 2 days, until the late afternoon of August 7,
we did such works as the removal of rubble, guarding of abank and the disposal of a number of dead bodies. No
one was alive in the central part of the city, where wetoiled on in the midst of scorching ground heat that had
been generated by the fire. I saw rows after rows ofcharred corpses and many severely injured people; theirflesh and skin peeled off and dangling from their bodies
and there were injured people with eyes popped out.
Words can never reconstruct the scene but it still brings
me to tears every time I recall it.
We returned to Onoura on the night of August 7 andfrom the next day until the 14th we did more rescue work
at Onoura Primary School. We treated victims who had
been carried from Hiroshima on trucks. We changed
the bandages for those who were unable to move becauseof the burns and injuries, took off the maggots breedingout of the wounds, and took care of human waste. We
also recovered many corpses, which had been drifted to
the Onoura Port from Hiroshima, and burned them in the
paddy field. They were many, and I am not talking
about just one hundred or two hundreds of bodies.

3. After my return to my hometown in Fukui
Prefecture, I started to contract various kinds of illnesses.
I had 13 operations on lymphoma of the neck from1949. I was always feeling sick from sluggishness, feverand buzzing in the ear, and finally I contracted malignant
lymphoma of the thyroid.
I’ve suffered from a constant state of sickness, andwas frustrated for not being able to stay for long in
hard-earned jobs. I cannot imagine how much trouble
and anxiety were caused to my family.
In my Submarine School days, I was so well that I did
not even get a cold. Stout as I was, I had a waist of 100
cm and weighed 100 kilograms. I had physical strengthfrom having built myself with Judo and other sports andgone through tough military trainings. Those 2 days ofwork in Hiroshima on August 6th and 7th turned thishealthy, strong young man to a feeble sick person, unable
to do normal, regular work. If this is not because of theatomic bomb, I want somebody to tell me what it is.
4. As you see, I am a so-called entrant Hibakusha,
who entered the ruined city after the atomic bomb
exploded.
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare insiststhat the entrant Hibakusha like me were not exposed to aconsiderable amount of radiation at all, and even if wewere, the amount was negligible and could not havecaused any major damage. Are they saying that wehave been lying about the ill-condition of us entrant
Hibakusha?
The Ministry people also insist that the diarrhea wascaused by bad hygienic conditions of the time and we lost
our hair due to the psychological stress. These remarks
trample on our feelings more than anything.
After my discharge, I went back to my hometown in
Fukui, which was also destroyed by air raids. Under thebad sanitary conditions, air-raid victims were exposed tovarious kinds of stress. However, there were no cases of

2. It was from about this time when I started to feelsick. I began having diarrhea on the night of 6th, theday I went into the city. To quench thirst, I did drink
the filthy water of the river where corpses were floating,but had not eaten a thing. I suffered watery diarrhea
that struck me several times per hour and then foundblood in it late in the evening. That did not stop thenext day and continued even after I was discharged fromthe navy.
While in Onoura, I bled from the gums and lost what
was left of my very short-shaven hair.
I was not the only one who was feeling ill. We soon
learned that we all were suffering from the same problem

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widespread diarrhea or depilation like Hiroshima andNagasaki.

Being here on the first day of the commission meeting
fills me, who was not recognized either Hibakusha or
A-bomb disease patient for many years, with emotion,and I also have great expectations.
In launching this commission, I ask you to face andfully understand what actually happened to the
Hibakusha. I really want you to know that even the
Hibakusha like me, who were not in Hiroshima at thetime of explosion but entered the city after the bombing,were affected by the A-bomb and have had great suffering
physically and mentally.
In spite of the statement of the government to thecontrary, the rulings on the six collective lawsuits
affirmed that the claims of the government were wrong.
The effects of the A-bomb on the Hibakusha havebeen far more serious than the government has insisted.
I hope that the A-bomb disease acknowledgment system
will be revised so that Hibakusha who contract thediseases that can be attributable to the effects of the
A-bombing will be recognized swiftly as A-bomb disease
patients.

5. I had long wanted to get an official recognition
that my sickness was related to the A-bomb.
But I was told to find two witnesses who could testify
that I was A-bombed, in order to get a Hibakusha
certificate. Many times I asked the Ministry of Healthfor help to inquire of my classmates of the naval
submarine school, but they did not deal with me at all,saying that there was no such submarine school of theNavy. Luckily I was able to find two witnesses througha newspaper article I obtained by chance. It was only
after fifty years that I finally obtained a Hibakusha
certificate.
Then I promptly applied for the A-bomb diseaserecognition. Even though I waited for as long as five
years, my application was rejected. This is the reason
why I went to court as the first plaintiff Hibakusha in thecollective lawsuits against the Japanese government.
And in January 2007, Nagoya District Court handed
down the decision ordering the government to recognize
me as an A-bomb disease patient. But the government
appealed the case, so I still have to continue fighting
against them.

The Japanese government has disappointed me manytimes over the A-bombing, but I appeal to it one thing:
Please do not leave Hibakusha to die bearing a grudge
against the government. I sincerely request that you
commit yourselves to revising the A-bomb diseases
acknowledgment system to reflect the real situation of the
Hibakusha.
Thank you for giving this valuable opportunity today.

6. As then Prime Minister Abe ordered a review of thestandard for official recognition for A-bomb disease, theMinistry of Health established a commission regarding
A-bomb recognition disease recognition.

Hibakusha in protest action encircling the Health Ministry’s building (December 2007)11

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Written Opinion of the Legal Counsel to the Commission Regarding the A-bomb
Disease Recognition System
September 28, 2007
MIYAHARA Tetsuo, Lawyer
Secretary General, National Liaison of Legal Counsel of the A-bomb Disease Recognition Lawsuits
entered the cities in search of their family members.
** Distal Hibakusha: Hibakusha who were at far distancesfrom the hypocenter at the time of the bombing: for instance,
those who were exposed to the bomb at 2 kilometers fromground zero.

1. How the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry havedisregarded the realities of the A-bomb destruction
The screening process of the Health, Labor andWelfare Ministry for the official recognition of illnesses ofvictims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima andNagasaki has been dismissive of the realities of thedamage they incurred by the bombing. That tendency
has worsened since the start of the new screening process
put in place with the adoption of the Guideline for
Screening of A-bomb Disease (hereafter referred to as
Guideline) on May 25, 2001. In short, the Working
Group on the Medical Issues of A-Bomb Victims(referred to as Medical Working Group hereafter), in
charge of the screening has been adamant in refusing toface the lasting killing and tormenting effects of theweapons to this day, not to mention their instant andimmediate destructive power.
The argument that the government and the Health
Ministry have presented in the courtrooms is no different
from that of the Medical Working Group in terms of theconstant sophistic dismissal of the human suffering.
But the Ministry’s screening process and the evidence
it provided in the lawsuits have been sharply criticized in
one ruling after another, details of which are explored in
the following paper.

2-2. The development since the Supreme Court ruling on
the Nagasaki Matsuya lawsuit
The biggest drive for initiating the collective lawsuits
was the favorable ruling the Supreme Court rendered on
the case of a Nagasaki Hibakusha, Ms. MATSUYA
Hideko, in July 2000.
Matsuya was at 2.45 kilometers from ground zero
when the bomb exploded. That is, she was a distal
Hibakusha who fell in the category of Hibakusha whose
illnesses the Health Ministry still does not recognize as
having been caused by A-bomb radiation. And thediseases that Matsuya had applied for the official
recognition, which were turned down, were “paralysis on
the right side of the body and head injury.”That the injuries Matsuya had applied for recognition
were not malignant tumors and that she was at 2.45
kilometers from ground zero were the conditions that
immediately disqualified her for the state recognition.
Despite the fact that the Supreme Court then ruled infavor of Matsuya's case, the present Guideline wasworked out in defiance of the ruling and is being put into
practice.
In November of the same year (2000), the Osaka High
Court followed the Supreme Court ruling on the Matsuya
case and handed down a similarly favorable ruling on
another Hibakusha case of Mr. KONISHI Takeo (aresident of Kyoto who had suffered from leukopenia).
Another similar ruling was handed down on the case of
Mr. AZUMA Kazuo (who had suffered from hepatitis C
as a result of a viral infection) by the Tokyo High Court
in March 2005. In both cases, the Health Ministry gave
up on appealing to the highest court.
It has been 13 consecutive losses for the government
in the Hibakusha cases: 3 times on the Nagasaki Matsuya
lawsuit; 2 times on the Kyoto Konishi lawsuit; 2 times on
the Tokyo Azuma lawsuit; and one each on the ongoingcollective lawsuits in the districts of Kinki (Osaka),
Hiroshima, Nagoya, Sendai, Tokyo and Kumamoto.
The legal opinions on these cases are firmly
established.

2. The legal opinion on the government’s screening issolid and well-established2-1. Present situation of the collective A-bomb lawsuits
The first round of the lawsuits against the Ministry of
Health and Welfare for its failure to recognize survivors’
diseases as A-bomb induced were collectively filed 4
years ago, between April and September 2003, under the
initiative of the national organization of A-bomb victims(Japan Confederation of A and H Bomb Suffers
Organizations, or Nihon Hidankyo).
Today, 283
Hibakusha plaintiffs are involved in the court struggle in
21 cases (15 cases being heard at the district court leveland 6 at higher courts in 17 different prefectures). 36 of
the plaintiffs have since passed away. The plaintiffs
include those Hibakusha who entered the cities ofHiroshima or Nagasaki soon after the bombing, or
Entrant Hibakusha*, and who were exposed to the bombat far distances, or Distal Hibakusha**.
Note: The definition here is not strictly the same as the legal
definition:*Entrant Hibakusha: Hibakusha who were at far distancesfrom the hypocenter at the time of the bombing: for instance,
military personnel who had been stationed in the suburbs andentered Hiroshima/Nagasaki at the behest of military forrescue efforts, or family members/relatives of the victims who

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2-3. The diseases Hidankyo demands to be officiallyrecognized as caused by the atomic bombing
In its “Demand to the Japanese Government in
Reviewing the A-bomb Disease Recognition System”

12recently (on September 20, 2007) presented to thegovernment on the occasion of the decision to review the
A-bomb disease screening process, Hidankyo identified 9
particular diseases to be recognized as A-bomb induced.
They are the ones that are derived from elaborate studies
on diseases that had been applied for recognition by the
Hibakusha plaintiffs and subsequently confirmed by the
courts as to qualify for such recognition. They are theconclusion of the comprehensive study conducted on the
judicial confirmation and the findings that suchinstitutions as the Radiation Effects Research Foundation
have publicized.

use of empirically derived common sense.
3-2. The practical application of the idea of “highprobability” of causation in the Matsuya case
Ms. MATSUYA Hideko was exposed to the bomb at
2.45 kilometers from ground zero.
A rigorous
application of the Ministry’s guideline or the DS86 would
scarcely recognize Matsuya’s exposure to any doses ofradiation, and therefore the causation between her
diseases and the radiation would be flatly denied. In
spite of that, the Supreme Court affirmed the causation as
follows:“The DS86, too, is an estimated value with stillunanswered questions and that it is under ongoing
review process is recognized in this court of law.
Therefore, it is considered that a machinelike application of
the DS86 and the threshold theory cannot fully explain
distal Hibakusha loss of hair, a fact clearly found by studies,including ones conducted by the Health Ministry. For
instance, depilation, a typical acute radiation symptom, wasfound among people who were in areas where such symptom
was not supposed to happen according to the mechanicalapplication of the DS86 and the threshold theory. The
court is compelled to question the Ministry’s definite
affirmation that a majority of such cases were caused byreasons other than radiation, such as malnutrition or
psychogenic factors.”
In addition to that the court ruled as follows:“With that in mind and in light of the situation underwhich Ms. Matsuya was exposed to the bomb, herconsequent physical condition and the realities ofother Nagasaki distal Hibakusha, and especially theactual deterioration of her brain injury, which cannot
be explained by the physical stroke alone, and her
actual loss of hair, though the initial cause of her brain
injury was caused by the blow of a roof tile, which had
been blown off by the bomb blast, the injury did
deteriorate seriously because of her significant
exposure to the radiation and is in fact in need of
medical care for its severity as a result of thedegradation of her natural healing ability caused byher exposure to radiation. That is, it is possible toconclude that the injury is attributable to the radiation, andit cannot be declared that such conclusion is not empiricallyallowed.” The court ruled that scientifically rigorous
proof is not necessary but the use of common sense isenough to satisfy the causation criterion.
This interpretation of the “high probability” has since
been adopted in all of the following Hibakusha legal cases,
resulting in victories for a number of Hibakusha plaintiffs.

3. The Health Ministry’s argument is debunked on all
counts and rejected by a court of law
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has put
forward a variety of arguments to justify its screening
Guideline. Every single one of them, however, has been
proven false and rejected by a court of law. I would liketo elaborate on this point in line with the court rulings
since this is what has mainly led to the decision to review
the Guideline and what corroborates Hidankyo’s
demands.
3-1. Legal notion on the “high probability of causation”
On what is required for the official recognition of
A-bomb diseases, the Health Ministry has publicly statedand presented in its litigation arguments that “there must
be a precise judgment, in screening A-bomb diseases,
derived from highly specialized findings of nuclear
physics, radiology, epidemiology, pathology, clinicalmedicine and other related science since the Supreme
Court finding states that there needs to be a highprobability of causation between a disease and A-bombradiation, which is a requirement for the official
recognition of such disease.” This argument, however,is patently wrong in its interpretation of the said court
ruling.
Let me first quote in full the court’s finding on thehigh probability of causation in the Nagasaki Matsuya
Lawsuit, which is what the Ministry referred to:“To prove the causation (between the contested
diseases and A-bomb radiation) is not to corroborate itwith every single aspect of science without leaving anyquestion but to prove a high probability of causation that
could affirm the relation between specific events and specificresults through comprehensive examination of all evidence
based on empirical rules. And such conclusion would need
to be credible enough to be accepted in terms of common
sense, and that will suffice as a conclusion (emphasis
added).
The Ministry is distorting the intention of the rulingwhen it misrepresents the phrase of “to prove a highprobability of causation” out of context. The court did
not ask for scientifically rigorous findings in proving thecause of A-bomb disease. The court said that suchcausation should be determined through accumulation ofsuch implicit evidence as acute symptoms the victim
suffered after the exposure and the consequent
deterioration of his/her physical condition and with the

3-3. Why the Ministry’s “scientific” argument is wrong
The Health Ministry explains that high-levelknowledge on medicine and radiology is required indetermining the radiation factor because the diseases
applied for recognition are cancer, cataracts and otherillnesses that could also be contracted under normal
circumstances merely by the aging process.
With regard to scientific findings, OKUBO Toshiteru,
Chairman of the RERF underlined the unexplained

13

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effects of A-bomb radiation in an interview he did with
Chugoku Shimbun (dated August 6, 2006). In thearticle entitled “Radiation effects, still half-way from fullunderstanding”, Okubo said, “What we have come tounderstand today about the late effects of radiation may
be as little as about 5 % of the whole picture”, and “ifthere is a time when a final conclusion could be drawn,
that would be when the follow-up study on the target
Hibakusha population, of which about 40% are still alive,
is completed.”
As we can see from his opinion, to require Hibakusha
to show sophisticated scientific evidence when the scienceis still far from perfection is to ask the impossible. As I
will point out later, this idea is also incompatible with the
purpose of the present Hibakusha Aid Law, whose intent
is to “provide comprehensive support measures, frommedical insurance, medicine and welfare, to the aging
Hibakusha.”
The Tokyo District Court pointed out about thisproblem in its ruling by stating, “since there is alimitation in scientific findings, the rigorous requirementof scientific evidence on the part of Hibakusha isincompatible with the law whose purpose is relief for the
Hibakusha.”3-5. Broad scope of effects of radioactive fallout
With regard to the level of radioactive fallout, theHealth Ministry argues that the levels of radioactive
fallout are extremely insignificant in areas other than Koi
and Takasu in Hiroshima and Nishiyama in Nagasaki,
where the measurement found comparatively significant
amounts of radiation due to the heavy rainfall after thebombing.
This point of argument is also refuted in the Tokyo
District Court ruling. It states:“The estimated levels of external initial radiation
doses are what mainly compose the DS86 report, andthe report spares only one chapter on the residual
radiation” and that even that chapter admits that “inboth Hiroshima and Nagasaki…not enoughmeasurements were done with regard to the level of
induced radiation and radioactive fallout. It was
only on September 17, 1945, after the passing of amajor typhoon, when a somewhat thorough study was
conducted on this subject.”3-6. Internal exposure to radiation
The Ministry argues that the effects of internal
exposure to radiation are insignificant enough to bedismissed.
On this point, the Tokyo District Court ruled:“With regard to the effect of internal exposure, effectsof alpha rays, other than those of gamma and neutron,and their serious effects in comparison to external
exposure as a result of its extreme proximity to humanbody cannot be theoretically denied.”
The Osaka District Court ruled that the finding on themechanism that radioactive nuclides, when taken into abody through breathing, eating, drinking or other means,continuously expose certain parts of the body to radiation
through such processes as condensation is corroborated
by scientific evidence.

3-4. DS86: The matters in dispute
The Ministry argues that the controversial points of
the DS86 posed by the ruling in the Matsuya case are an
already settled issue. This too is clearly wrong.
I would like to quote rulings of the Tokyo andHiroshima District Courts in the Hibakusha cases.
The Tokyo District Court found that, “the theoretical
calculation of the DS86 is a hypothesis derived fromsimulations conducted based on certain assumptions.
As such, the general reasonableness of the method
does not immediately justify the conclusion derived
from its implementation. Validity of the method should
be determined by the level of compatibility of the calculated
results with the realities of A-bomb damage or by how well
the results reasonably explain Hibakusha’s actual illnesses.
From such a point of view, some of the questions
against the DS86 posed by the plaintiffs areunderstandable, so that this court cannot accept thedefendant’s argument for the absolute righteousness of theDS86.”The Hiroshima District Court ruled as follows:“Despite the DS86 extreme low estimates on radiation
doses, the existence of a numerous number of people
who showed what are understood to be acuteradiation symptoms (is widely recognized in official
documents). Therefore, it should be concluded thatthe initial radiation dose (direct exposure to thebombing) derived from the DS86 is not the only factor
that affected the Hibakusha’s health.” It went on tostate that, “the estimated radiation dose derived inaccordance with the Guideline for Screening should beunderstood only as the tentative, minimum guide.”
A similar finding is seen in the ruling in the
Kumamoto case rendered on July 30, 2007.

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3-7. Meaning of Hibakusha’s acute radiation symptoms
The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry insists on its
estimated radiation doses, according to which acute
symptoms appear with the radiation dose of 1 gray,depilation with 3 grays and diarrhea with 5 grays. Basedon those numeric values, the Ministry denies the effect of
A-bomb radiation on such acute symptoms widely seenamong Hibakusha as depilation, diarrhea, purple spots(ecchymosis), and bleeding from the gums. Such distorted
understanding of the reality has caused great anger
among Hibakusha.
This line of argument, however, is not even slightly
different from the one that the former Health and Welfare
Ministry put forward in the Matsuya case, which was
manifestly refuted in the ruling as described, and has been
dismissed in all of the following Hibakusha lawsuits.
The Tokyo District Court ruling explains fully well
the fallacy of such a rationale.
“In light of a number of studies on Hibakusha, it should besaid that it is substantially reasonable to affirm the existenceof acute radiation symptoms caused by radiation both
among distal and entrant Hibakusha groups.
This

14

conclusion is not in agreement with the estimation of
the DS86. In light of the questions posed against thedosimetry system, it is rather highly-likely that
disagreement is caused by the problems of the systemitself. To say the least, the denial of the radiation factor in
the acute radiation symptoms found among the victims basedon the DS86 must be a formidably difficult practice. In
determining the radiation cause, one needs to keep in mind
the actual cases of radiation-related acute symptoms among
distal and entrant Hibakusha, and therefore there actuallyexists a significant number of victims exposed to A-bombradiation among the Hibakusha groups.”of the guideline and because the probability is merely oneof the determining factors.
b) With regard to the limitation of the DS86, all of therulings are in agreement on one point: the only values thedosimetry system could relatively calculate with someaccuracy are initial radiation doses (direct exposure to thebombing). In other words, the rulings are in favor offactoring in the internal and external exposure to residual
radiation as a scientifically reasonable argument.
c) The rulings are in agreement on the actual radiation
effects on entrant and distal Hibakusha in light of theirinternal/external exposure to residual radiation.
d) The rulings recognize the importance of the acuteradiation symptoms found in entrant and distal
Hibakusha groups in determining the fact of radiation
exposure and the level of exposure.
e) The rulings point out that the regional areas that
suffered the radioactive fallout are greater than officiallyrecognized, which include areas other than Koi and
Takasu districts in the case of Hiroshima.
f) The court rulings also agree on the point that due tothe limitation of having derived from epidemiology,
statistics and medicine and the analysis method of thetime and due to excluding the factor of external/internal
exposure to residual radiation, the probability of
causation “is no more than one of the many factors to beconsidered” and “is only a temporary guide in a certain
period in the past for judging a tendency how radiation
causes illnesses.”
They also agree on refusing themechanical application of the DS86 for its inaccuracy.

3-8. Rationale for probability of causation is denied
As I have described, the rationale for the probabilityof causation theory based on the DS86 and others has
been strongly questioned by a number of judges. Since
the probability of causation is the theoretical grounds onwhich the ongoing governmental review is being
conducted, questioning it would mean to point out thevery problems of the review’s guideline itself.
The Tokyo District Court ruled:“…the probability of causation is essentially whatindicates a tendency of a group as a whole and is not aconcept that demonstrates the existence or non-existence ofradiation factor in individual cases.”
The Hiroshima ruling stated:“Since the probability of causation has limitations andflaws, including that it does not fully take into accountthe aspect of external exposure to residual radiationand internal exposure, it should be used simply as atemporary guide…there must be a case-by-caseexamination of the plaintiffs’ illnesses in determining
the radiation factor.
The Kumamoto ruling rendered on July 30 (2007), thelatest one on the Hibakusha cases, stated:“…the probability of causation (contributing risk) used in
the screening process is merely one of the many factors to be
examined in finding a high probability that radiation
has caused the diseases, which were applied for
official recognition. A higher probability may provide astronger case in assuming and affirming the “highprobability of causation”, but that does not deny a possiblehigh probability that a lower dose may have caused theillnesses.”

4. The Health Ministry’s complete dismissal of the
judicial rulings and the development in the legislature
The Health Ministry has no intension to heed public
opinion and the strong judgments in favor of the
Hibakusha cases. This recalcitrant attitude has madesome politicians judge that the Ministry has lost rational
decision-making capability, or is “in a state of cerebral
shutdown”, therefore unable to take action toward a
political solution of the problem. Diet members acrossthe political spectrum have come to recognize possible
negligence of legislative duty if they continued to leave
the gap between the judicial and the administrative
branches unaddressed.
It was against such a backdrop that the former prime
minister ABE Shinzo, on August 5, 2007, the day before
the Hiroshima Day, publicly stated that he would
consider reviewing the present criteria for A-bomb diseaserecognition at a meeting with Hibakusha. In addition toa number of Hibakusha, those present were the then
Health Minister, the Mayor of Hiroshima and Diet
members from various parties. Abe also said that hewould firmly address the issue of Hibakusha suffering andensure a study for possible state measures in light of theaging of Hibakusha.
In response to the statement, the Ad-hoc Committee
on Measures for Hibakusha was set within the Health andLabor Committee of the Liberal Democratic Party’s
Political Research Council.
On August 30, thecommittee made the following recommendations: To do

3-9. The fundamental reasoning is shared by all the court
rulings
In appealing the Tokyo and Sendai cases to the highcourt, the Ministry criticized the 6 district court rulings bysaying that “they are different from each other.” (TheMinistry’s press release.) This is not correct. Each of
the rulings is unique in some parts but their fundamental
reasoning is in complete accordance with each other.
a) The rulings recognize not only cancers but also
other wide range non-cancerous diseases as A-bomb
induced. As to the diseases for which there is noestablished probability, the rulings recognize them as
A-bomb related in light of the limitation in medical andepidemiological understanding at the time of the making

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away with the screening Guideline; Recognition of
diseases as A-bomb induced if the patients who were in acertain area showed typical radiation symptoms unlessdefinitely proved otherwise; and Establishment of aneutral body, in replacement of the Health Ministry’s
Working Group, which would include representatives of
Hibakusha and intellectuals with knowledge on residual
radiation and other related issues. Now, the rulingparties’ project team, which includes the Komei party,
that succeeded the ad-hoc committee, is working for aconclusion to be issued as early as early December thisyear (2007).

the estimated radiation dose and the illness list in total
disregard of the very application documents with actual
information on the applicant’s symptoms at the time of
the bombing and the consequent and present suffering.
Such routine work is what has been strongly rebuked in a
number of court rulings.
To our astonishment, it has been revealed through thecourt hearings that until a certain period of time the
Health Ministry’s office in charge of the Working Group
created a paper with their own assessment with A to D
rating on each applicant and circulated it to the membersin the Group.

5. The reality of the screening process of the Medical
Working Group and its unfair practice5-1. Unfairness and lack of criticism
The Health Ministry has made somewhat negative
comments on the promised reviewing of the Working
Group. Half of the purpose of the review would become
meaningless if the review is not done.
What needs to be clarified first of all is that thecontroversial Guideline for Screening that clearly is aviolation of the Supreme Court ruling, came into being
with the approval of this medical working group. And
the group has not even slightly addressed the problem inspite of the 6 court rulings. It has been engaging inbusiness as usual with no change to the screening process,continuing to dismiss and reject Hibakusha’s applications.
This is a clear indication of group members’ inability
to sincerely accept or understand the new findings onradiation effects, which have been demonstrated in the
court.
In the AZUMA case, both the Tokyo District Court
and the High Court (whose ruling is final since the Health
Ministry did not appeal) affirmed the radiation cause in
Azuma’s hepatitis C. In spite of that, the Working
Group approved the screening criteria that denied theradiation factor in the disease. And the basis of thedenial was the Toda Report, compiled by a researchers’
group led by TODA Gotaro.
Toda testified andpresented written opinions in the hearings of the Azuma
case, but neither the testimony nor the opinion was
supported by the courts. Such is the nature of the very
report, and the Working Group adopted it in consensus
without any kind of dissent to it.

5-3. The necessity of doing away with the current
Medical Working Group
Therefore, as the LDP’s ad-hoc committee
recommended, we believe the necessity of establishing aneutral screening body, which includes representatives of
Hibakusha and intellectuals with reasonable knowledge
on residual radiation and other related issues in place ofthe present Medical Working Group is indisputable.
6. Conclusion: The purpose and aim of the Hibakusha
Aid Law must be respected and the recognition system
must be reviewed in accordance with the court rulings
Let me quote the preamble of the 1994 Hibakusha Aid
Law.
“The atomic bombs, weapons with unparalleleddestructive power and nature, dropped on Hiroshima
and Nagasaki in August 1945, caused life-long injuries
and after effects and a life of anxiety to the survivors,
not to mention the instant death to a numerous
number of people.
For the maintenance and improvement of healthand welfare of victims who suffer from effects of
A-bomb radiation, various measures on medical
allowance, special medical care and others have been
provided with the enactment of the medical act andspecial measures act for the A-bomb victims.
On the 50th anniversary of the atomic bombing,with a renewed commitment to the ultimate abolitionof nuclear weapons and prayer for eternal peace toensure prevention of another scourge of atomic
bombing, and in light of the fact that the healthdamage caused by the A-bomb radiation is distinct
from other war-related damage, we provide the aging
Hibakusha, under state responsibility, with comprehensive
relief measures on medical insurance, medicine and social
welfare.”That the screening should be conducted based on the
purpose of the Hibakusha Aid Law has been clearlyaffirmed in the Nagasaki Matsuya case and the number offollowing court rulings as elaborated above.
I call on the members of the review committee to use
the purpose and aim of the Aid Law and their benchmark
set by the court rulings as a guide in examining new
criteria for the recognition of A-bomb disease instead of
abusing the impersonal absolutism of science orgrounding your recommendation on the incorrectinterpretation of the court rulings.

5-2. Reality of the screening process
The Medical Working Group’s screening is a formal
process done based on the probability of causation alone.
The average time the group spends on screening anapplication is about 4 minutes. How each Hibakusha
was exposed to the bomb is different from the others andthe distance from ground zero, i.e. the direct exposure to
the bomb’s initial radiation, is not the only determining
factor for human physical damage. Also, despite thefact that the A-bomb radiation has done harm to thehuman body in various ways, not a few radiation-induced
diseases are excluded from the Guideline list. It isagainst all of these facts and realities that the groupmembers mechanically screen applicants solely based on

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80th National Board Meeting, February 9-10, 2008
Japan Gensuikyo 2008 Action Plan

For a Peaceful and Just World Set Free of Nuclear Weapons:
Looking to 2010, Let Us Further Anti-Nuclear Peace Opinion
and Grass-Roots Actions
Introduction:
Now that the 8th year of the 21st century has begun,
we are witnessing a rapid increase in the number ofpeople and movements calling for an end to the threat
posed to the survival of humanity, to peace, safety andpeople's livelihoods by unlawful wars, the nuclear threat,
destruction of the environment, unbridled financial rules
and a growing income disparity.
Governments that joined the attack on Iraq have lostthe people's support. At the Bali Conference on Climate
Change, the reluctant attitude of the USA and Japan
faced criticism and deepened their isolation.
The efforts to achieve the abolition of nuclear
weapons have shown broader outreach and strong
development. At the United Nations General Assemblyin 2007, the USA voted obstructively on all resolutions
for disarmament, ranging from nuclear weapons to small
arms. This attitude found the U.S. miserably isolated.
Furthermore, calls for a "nuclear weapon-free world" havebeen raised even from many individuals who once
engaged as pivots in the nuclear policies of the USA andUK.
It is clear that the world of the 21st century is nolonger one in which the "order of power" and making
nuclear threats carry weight. The only solution to theissue of nuclear weapons, including that of nuclear
proliferation, is a total ban on nuclear weapons, which
has become the opinion of the overwhelming majority of
the world's people.
Looking to the 2010 NPT Review Conference, toward
which the implementation of the "unequivocal
undertaking" of abolishing nuclear weapons is urged,
NGOs of the world as well as national and local
governments have made a strong determination to create
a great surge of public opinion with a view to realizing a
nuclear weapon-free and peaceful world. Playing amajor role in the anti-nuclear movement of the people ofJapan, the only country that suffered nuclear ravages,
Gensuikyo has contributed to the advance of theabolition of nuclear weapons for half a century evenunder the danger of nuclear catastrophe and backward
moves against this cause. However, further display of its
strength is expected of us. Let us make a fresh
determination to radically develop public opinion andmovements for the abolition of nuclear weapons,
centering on the activity of raising public awareness inJapan and internationally of the damage of the atomic
bombing.

I. Harm of Unilateralism and Strong Current inFavor of Abolition of Nuclear Weapons
With "terrorism" and the "proliferation of weapons ofmass destruction" as excuses, the Bush administration has
imposed the "order of power" on the world with nuclear
threats and military might. This policy has reached an
impasse all over the world.
Even nearly 5 years after the military attacks on Iraq
were launched in total disregard of international law andthe opposition of the world, peace and stability have notbeen brought there; on the contrary, enormous sacrificeand confusion have continued to increase. The forcesthat unleashed this criminal war were faced with strong
criticism from the peoples of the world. Those in Spainand Italy were driven out of power in 2004 and 2005
respectively. In the US midterm election in 2006, those
who served as cheerleaders of the war lost their majority
in the Congress. This trend keeps advancing: Last year,
UK Prime Minister Blair was forced to resign and theAustralian Howard conservative government suffered asevere defeat in the general election in November.
The Bush administration has called for a worldwide
encircling of Iran on the pretext of "nuclear suspicion"
while making military threats, including nuclear ones.
On this question, too, military response on the pretext of
nuclear "proliferation" has failed as the US intelligenceagencies reached a conclusion last December that Iran
had already abandoned a nuclear weapons development
program in 2003.
On the other hand, the US has justified its nuclear
arms with the danger of terrorism and nuclear
proliferation as excuses, and has forced the developmentof a new generation of nuclear weapons and the missile
defense system. This attitude has invited criticism fromaround the world and increased voices for the abolition of
nuclear weapons, inducing tension with other nuclear
weapon states and motivating non-nuclear weapon statesto acquire nuclear weapons.
A resolution calling on Nuclear Weapon States todecrease the operational readiness of nuclear weaponssystems was submitted for the first time to the UNGA lastDecember. It got support from 139 countries, including
Germany and Italy where US nuclear weapons are
deployed. Only the US, UK and France opposed it.
Of resolutions concerning nuclear disarmament whichwere put to a vote together, those of the New Agenda
Coalition and the Non-Aligned Movement calling for theabolition of nuclear weapons, the implementation of the
13 steps agreed upon in the 2000 NPT Review
Conference, and the early commencement of negotiations
leading to the elimination of nuclear weapons, got more

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support than last year, while those which only the US
opposed numbered 7, such as those calling for an early
entry into force of the CTBT and the convening of the
4th UN Special Session on Disarmament (SSDIV).
Even in the US, where the presidential election
campaign is going on, momentum in favor of theabolition of nuclear weapons is increasing. In January
2007, even former National Advisor Henry Kissinger andother 3 US former officials called on nuclear weapon
states to make a "nuclear weapon-free world" a common
goal and to take action to this end, which got support
from senior members of other governments, including thethen Foreign Minister Beckett of the UK. Their second"call", published on January 15, 2008, announced that it
had gained support from a number of senior members ofsuccessive administrations since the Kennedy era in the
1960s such as presidential advisors, and Secretaries ofState and Defense.
Taking advantage of the enhancing effect that support
for the abolition of nuclear weapons has engendered,anti-nuclear movements of the world have strengthened
initiatives to develop movements and build up public
opinion toward the 2010 NPT Review Conference. This
includes the effort of US movements to urge thecandidates of the presidential election to pledge to workfor the abolition of nuclear weapons, the development ofsignature campaigns and the holding of the "Global
Summit for a Nuclear Weapon-Free World" (by CND on
Feb. 16 and 17, 2008).
All our energy should be devoted to building up
overwhelming public opinion in favor of the abolition of
nuclear weapons enough to thoroughly isolate
pro-nuclear weapon advocacy to ensure that the next
NPT Review Conference opens up a path to theelimination of nuclear weapons, without allowing such a
rupture as we witnessed in 2005.

The government is now driven to review the standards of
its official recognition system for A-bomb disease
patients.
In a broad perspective, these changes show that we arein a new situation in which movements and the height ofpublic opinion make it possible to create a historic turn inthe course of Japan in the fields of peace and theabolition of nuclear weapons as well as the people’s
livelihood.
The Fukuda Cabinet, however, has followed
LDP-Komei politics, as seen in basic policies of “nuclear
umbrella”, the reinforcement of US bases and theintegration of the Self-Defense Forces into the US forces,continuing to take actions contrary to the international
responsibility of a country that suffered the atomic
bombing and has Article 9 in its Constitution.
In the disarmament discussion in the UNGA last
autumn, the Japanese government took the same attitude
as last year: It neither urged nuclear weapons states toimplement the “unequivocal undertaking” to abolishnuclear weapons nor oppose the preemptive use of
nuclear weapons and nuclear attacks and threats to
non-nuclear weapons states; it dared to throw cold wateron Malaysia’s resolution advocating negotiations for theabolition of nuclear weapons, saying that it waspremature.
Besides, the Japanese government has continued tosend the SDF to Iraq where the US forces have illegallycontinued to control and kill the people. Regarding a“retaliatory” war against Afghanistan, the LDP-Komei
parties railroaded the New Anti-Terrorism Special
Measures bill, once killed in the Upper House, with thestrength of their majority in spite of the people’s strong
opposition. On the other hand, there is also a dangerous
move that the Democratic Party has presented to the Dieta permanent SDF overseas dispatch bill out of its desire
to snuggle up to the USA.
In this context, in order to turn round Japan’s coursein the direction of freedom from nuclear weapons andpeace, persistent efforts are vitally important.
In
particular, nationwide movements affiliated with
Gensuikyo have to develop cooperation broadly andstrengthen grass-root activities.
In April 2007,
Gensuikyo, together with the Association for a
Non-Nuclear Government, called for, and with a wide
range of prominent figures of various circles, launched acampaign to urge the Japanese government to make a“Declaration of a Nuclear Weapon-Free Japan”. It has
so far received endorsements from 335 heads of local
governments and 248 speakers of municipal assemblies aswell as supportive resolutions adopted by 130 local
governments. A persistent fight is being carried on invarious parts of Japan: A local people’s movement tostop the plan of turning Yokosuka into the homeport of a
nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, opposition to thereinforcement of US bases in Iwakuni, Zama andOkinawa; and efforts to urge local governments withports to adopt the 33-year-long nuclear-free “Kobe
Formula”.
With the possibility of a general election, which will
determine the future of Japan, and with the G8 summit
planned in July, the attitude of the Japanese government
will be questioned over war and peace, the abolition of

II For a Japan Free of the “ Nuclear Umbrella”
based on the Three Non-Nuclear Principles andArticle 9
The Liberal Democratic Party and the Komei Party
suffered a severe setback in the House of Councillors
election last July, and the resignation of the Abe cabinet
followed in September. Against the backdrop of these
events was the people’s strong criticism for the
LDP-Komei politics, which was not limited to theirpolitical corruption and misgovernment. This criticism
was cast on their rush to follow the US hegemonism,
reinforcing the Japan-US military alliance, attempting torevise the Constitution and widening the people’s
economic disparity under the thumb of monopoly giants,
which showed the failure of their old political framework.
The loss of a majority by the ruling parties in theHouse of Councilors made them unable to carry
everything through with the strength of numbers,
producing new results: The Iraq Special Measures Law
was scrapped and the New Anti-Terrorism Special
Measures bill was killed as well. Increasing criticism of
the people has made the Fukuda Government unable totake the same attitude as the Koizumi and Abegovernments had taken, as shown in self-restraint ofvisiting Yasukuni Shrine and of revising the Constitution.

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FEBRUARY 200818

nuclear weapons, the people’s livelihood and the courseof Japan. While playing its international role ofarousing public opinion in favor of the abolition of
nuclear weapons, Gensuikyo has to make vigorous efforts
from the grass-roots to build up a national consensus toestablish a Japan that is free of the US “nuclear umbrella”
and takes the lead in the abolition of nuclear weapons.

authorities and NGOs to hold A-bomb exhibitions andseek joint sponsorship in diverse forms. Centering on
August 6 and 9, and U.N. Disarmament Week, proposals
should be made to local governments, public institutions,Hibakusha and citizens organizations to hold or
co-organize A-bomb exhibitions and meetings to listen to
the Hibakusha, thereby to raise public opinion for theabolition of nuclear arms and to inherit Hibakusha’s
experiences.
◇ In order to develop this campaign as aninternational joint undertaking, Gensuikyo’s proposal
should be made known widely and consultations on the
proposal should be promoted. In view of the date of the
NPT Review Conference in May 2010, we will seek tohold actions in New York and world-wide grass-roots
joint actions with the abolition of nuclear weapons as thecommon goal.
◇Toward the 2008 World Conference, we call for
creative ways for campaigning, such as composing songs
and designing posters to publicize the campaign.
Planning should start immediately on the production andutilization of A-bomb photo-panel sets and other display
exhibitions and audio-visual materials.
2) We will prepare for the “Global Summit for a
Nuclear Weapons-Free World” organized by theCampaign for Nuclear Disarmament (UK) (16 to 17
February, London), the second Preparatory Committee
Meeting of the NPT Review Conference (April, Geneva),
G8 Toyako Summit (July), and U.N. General Assembly(October), by sending delegations, issuing proposal
statements and raising public opinions for our goal.
On the occasion of the G8 Toyako Summit, we willurge the Japanese Government to propose the abolitionof nuclear weapons and seek to reach an agreement forthis and implement it. The G8 Summit, where theheads of the nations with great power and influence on
the global economy and politics will gather, has so far
only sought “nuclear non-proliferation” instead of taking
an initiative for nuclear disarmament and abolition. As
the host country for the coming G8 Summit and the only
nation that has experienced the A-bombs in the world, itis the duty of the Japanese Government to make abreakthrough in these existing challenges, and toward2010 commit itself to achieving a nuclear weapon-freeworld.
In cooperation with other NGOs of the world, we will
also request the Summit conference itself andparticipating governments to fulfill similar tasks.
Working together with Hokkaido Gensuikyo and otherorganizations, we plan to hold an A-bomb exhibition andmeeting to hear Hibakusha testimonies (June 20-21,
Sapporo, Hokkaido).
3) Giving great importance to the monthly “6th and 9th
Day Actions” as nationwide united actions to be carriedout by all local Gensuikyos, we will expand the scope of
the Actions, which will include “Swift Abolition”
signature collection, fundraising campaign for the reliefof the Hibakusha, A-bomb photo exhibition and various
other forms.

III

2008 Action Plan
Abolition of nuclear weapons is still an urgent andvital task for the survival of humankind. All nations,especially the nuclear weapon sates, have responsibilities
to implement immediately the “unequivocal undertaking
to eliminate nuclear weapons,” which nuclear weapon
states themselves agreed on in May 2000.
Japan
Gensuikyo will call upon all anti-nuclear and peace
movements, NGOs, local municipalities, governments of
the world and global citizens to make a universal
consensus on complete prohibition and elimination of
nuclear weapons toward the 2010 NPT Review
Conference, which is the next important opportunity topress for the implementation of the “undertaking”. For
this purpose, Gensuikyo will propose and start
consultations to launch an international joint campaign
to achieve a “Nuclear Weapon-Free World”.
Gensuikyo will urge the Japanese government to play aleading role for the abolition of nuclear weapons in goodfaith as the government of the only A-bombed country.
At the same time, Gensuikyo will develop grass-roots
movements and cooperation with a broad range of people,
in order to make a Japan which will sincerely practice theThree Non-Nuclear Principles and respect Article 9 of theJapanese Constitution, oppose the use of military force
and nuclear threats, and make efforts to achieve world
peace.
1. To develop public opinion and actions for a total ban
on and elimination of nuclear weapons
1) “Global Action Campaign for a Nuclear
Weapon-Free World”: In order to make the 2010 NPT
Review Conference agree on the course to achieveelimination of nuclear weapons, we propose a “Global
Action Campaign for a Nuclear Weapon-Free World”.
Based on the tradition and lessons of the anti-A andH-bomb movement, this international joint action aims at
developing grass-roots anti-nuclear opinion, with the“abolition of nuclear weapons” as the common task anda “signature campaign” and “A-bomb exhibitions” as thecommon form of actions. In this campaign, Japan
Gensuikyo, as the movement of the world’s only
A-bombed nation, will work to build international
cooperation, and especially to achieve consensus on
nuclear weapons abolition among Japanese people of all
generations.
◇While continuing to develop the “Swift Abolition”
signature campaign all over the country, we take theopportunity of the 2008 World Conference to propose
and launch a new signature campaign for submission to
the next NPT Review Conference as the common actionthat can be conducted by everyone, everywhere and at
any time.
◇ We will call on national governments, local

2. Refusing dangerous reinforcement of the Japan-U.S.
Alliance, we demand the Japanese Government to abide

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by Article 9 and the Three Non-Nuclear Principles,moving out from under the “Nuclear Umbrella”
1) We urge the Japanese Government to declare its
will to abolish nuclear weapons and observe the Three
Non-Nuclear Principles as a “Declaration of a Nuclear
Weapon-Free Japan” and notify all countries of thedeclaration.
We should build and strengthen aconsensus of a nuclear weapon-free Japan and spread it
across Japan by calling upon the local governments
committed to nuclear-free zone declaration or refusal of
nuclear weapons brought into the community, all heads
and chairpersons of local municipalities, local assemblies
and citizens. In view of adopting the resolution in theDiet, a request should be made to Diet members to
support the declaration, working together with a wide
range of people in communities and constituencies.
Along with the nuclear-free municipality movement
and activities to support the Hibakusha in communities,building local people’s opinion for a “Declaration of a
Nuclear Weapon-Free Japan” is a task bearing on thereason for existence of local Gensuikyos in thisA-bombed country, and their activities should be given
full play.
By disseminating opinion posters, placing opinion ads
in newspapers, mobilizing to send postcards withdemands to the government, linking these with Peace
Marches, etc., we will promote this “Declaration”
campaign across Japan in diverse forms.
2) There is a rapidly growing move to integrate Japan
into the U.S. nuclear attack system, using North Korea’s
nuclear program as a pretext. While making the dangerof this move known to wider public, our movement
should be expanded to involve local governments andresidents in the campaigns to oppose the homeporting ofa U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier at Yokosuka,
deployment and port calls of Aegis cruisers andnuclear-capable warships, deployment of interceptor
missiles and X-band radar system, tied up with the plan
to strengthen the U.S. offence system.
3) We will oppose the extension of the dispatch ofJapan’s ASDF that are involved in U.S. mass murder in
Iraq and Afghanistan, dispatch of the MSDF destroyer tothe Indian Ocean and the permanent law to dispatch the
Self-Defense Forces abroad at any time and demand thegovernment obey the Constitution.
4) We will spread the pioneer spirit of the JapaneseConstitution that renounces war and declares that Japan
does not have any armed forces in the “Nuclear Era” anddevelop a movement, which stands on the wide range of
campaigns built on the movement against A & H Bombs.
We will approve and participate in the “Global Article 9
Conference” and its affiliated events held in Makuhari in
Chiba prefecture (4-5, May) and hold the “A-bomb andArticle 9” forum.

current examination system for official recognition of
A-bomb diseases of the Hibakusha, and grant“recognition swiftly and positively”. These lawsuits will
also aim to correct the wrong administration that has
tried to underestimate and belittle the A-bomb damage,and to achieve relief measures commensurate to thereality of the A-bombing and current situation of the
Hibakusha, which would go beyond the plaintiffs of thelawsuits. These measures should not delineate anddivide the Hibakusha and arbitrarily narrow the scope ofrelief.
Confident in the past achievements in this field, Japan
Gensuikyo will continue to support the struggle of the
Hibakusha, demanding relief measures duly in line withthe actual situation of the Hibakusha. We urge thegovernment to withdraw its appeals to the high courts,
and aiming to achieve a total victory on all pending suits,
we join the observation of court proceedings, work on
public education, signature-collection and fundraising,and support Hibakusha’s nation-wide actions andpetitioning to the government.
In the nationwide 1-million people’s “emergency
signature drive”, Gensuikyo should achieve its goal of
500,000 signatures by March 10.
Adoption ofresolutions by local assemblies demanding the national
government to drastically revise the recognition policy
should be promoted.
We will inform many Hibakusha, who had previously
given up applying for relief measures in the face of thegovernment’s cold policy, of the progress andachievements of the current struggle, and assist them tofile applications from across the country to the Health
Ministry. For this, Gensuikyo organizations must, atboth national and local levels, reinforce their coordinationand joint work with Hibakusha organizations, medical
institutions and other related bodies.
2) Informing the public of the reality of the atomic
bombing and raising opinions for the abolition of nuclear
weapons is one of the most fundamental activities ofJapan Gensuikyo. Looking to the 2010 NPT Review
Conference, Gensuikyo will cooperate with the
Hibakusha groups, local authorities, schools, social
education facilities and a broad range of otherorganizations, to plan and carry out A-bomb exhibitions,visits to the Hibakusha, meetings to listen to A-bomb
experiences and see A-bomb films in all cities and towns
across Japan. To this end, the Hibakusha Relief andSolidarity Department of Gensuikyo should play acentral role to facilitate coordination among the
Hibakusha, experts and professional organizations indifferent fields, to produce and distribute educational
materials and to promote these activities.
3) Young people’s efforts to succeed Hibakusha’s
experiences and send them out to the world should be
encouraged nationwide as the movement of the youth of
the A-bombed nation bearing international responsibility.
Making the World Conference, “International Youth
Rally” and Bikini Day events important junctures, weshould encourage their visits to the Hibakusha, study
meetings and forums, and give them more opportunities
to have exchanges among them of their activities at thenational and international levels.
4) As the Hibakusha grow older, the task of

3. Collective Lawsuits for A-Bomb Disease Recognition/
Relief for and Solidarity with the Hibakusha1) The collective lawsuits for A-bomb diseaserecognition, now contended at 15 district courts and 6
high courts, are in progress with important achievements.
With the broad public opinion in support of the
Hibakusha lawsuits, the government was obliged to statethat it would make a “comprehensive revision” of theNO MORE HIROSHIMAS!

FEBRUARY 200820

establishing elaborate systems to support their life in local
communities becomes increasingly important. Closer
coordination and regular consultation should be held
between local Gensuikyos and corresponding Hibakushaorganizations, in order to promote carefully-crafted
activities for the Hibakusha and to support Hibakushaorganizations, with the help of local authorities,municipal councilors and medical institutions.
The annual “Two million-yen Donation for the
Hibakusha” should be promoted regularly by all levels of
Gensuikyo and its affiliates, with broader use of special
donation boxes and campaign stickers at workplaces,
offices and in local communities. How to evaluate such
fundraising efforts at prefectural Gensuikyos should be
improved to more accurately reflect actual activities
carried out, such as supporting the collective A-bomb
lawsuits and organizing health check-ups of the
Hibakusha. At the same time, Japan Gensuikyo has anational responsibility to support Nihon Hidankyo (Japan
Confederation
of
A-and
H-BombSufferers
Organizations) and the Hibakusha movement inHiroshima and Nagasaki. So the annual donation forthem should be given special emphasis.
5) Solidarity with radiation victims outside Japan
should be strengthened. We oppose the military use of
nuclear materials, including depleted uranium. We also
opposetheJapanesegovernment’s
dangerous
administration on nuclear energy, such as reprocessing at
Rokkasho, the MOX fuel project and disposal andreclamation of nuclear waste. The damage inflicted by
Chuetsu-Oki Earthquake on Kashiwazaki-Kariwa
Nuclear Power Plant once again demonstrated this danger.
In opposition to building new nuclear power plants and insolidarity with the local people in protest against suchplans, we demand all-out inspections on the existing
plants with results made public, and drastic revision of
the current nuclear energy administration. We call fordevelopment of alternative energy sources and phased
withdrawal from nuclear energy.

boards, and also from a broad range of organizations
desiring abolition of nuclear weapons, temples, churches
and religious and cultural groups. To promote this, a
special leaflet to explain about the peace march and tocall for participation will be published.
Tocommemorate the 50th anniversary, the Peace Marchshould pass through literally all municipalities, andGensuikyo will exert special effort for this.
As part of the anniversary events, Gensuikyo will
send a delegation of marchers to join the Peace March in
the U.K., which started in 1958, the same year as in Japan.
(End of March, from Greenham Common to
Aldermaston, U.K.)
International peace marchers are welcome to join thePeace March in Japan. An anniversary event will beplanned in August to commemorate the 50th anniversary.
3) Achieving the success of the 2008 World
Conference against A & H Bombs is the most importanttask of 2008 for us, in launching the movement from the
A-bombed cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and in
mobilizing and developing the nationwide movement andcampaign, leading to the 2010 NPT Review Conference.
Japan Gensuikyo shall make all-out efforts to makethe 2008 Conference one where these three tasks are
fulfilled: (1) National and local governments and otherpublic bodies and NGOs, grass-roots movements andindividuals work together and deepen exchanges beyond
the differences of thought and belief; (2) Participants sendout to the world the reality of the A-bombing and
Hibakusha’s desires for peace, and agree on the steps andjoint activities to achieve a “nuclear weapons-free world”;
and (3) People of all generations join in solidarity andplay their respective roles in the conference, where young
participants can foster a hope in their future.
In the lead up to the 2010 NPT Review Conference,the 2008 World Conference is required to generate vitality
and initiatives to mobilize world public opinion andactually move international politics forward to thedirection of nuclear weapons abolition. In achieving
success, efforts should be made with an accelerated
schedule to prepare the World Conference, i.e., planningof the conference program; mobilizing greater
participation by urging a broader range of people andorganizations to join the conference; promoting learningand discussion on the topics based on a special booklet on
the World Conference; collecting signatures for thepetition and raising funds to support the conference; andearly electing and designating of conference delegatesfrom the grass-roots.

4. For the Success of 2008 March 1 Bikini Day,
Nationwide Peace March and 2008 World Conference
against A & H Bombs
1) We must achieve a success of the 2008 March 1
Bikini Day events, which will mark the start of the
two-year special campaign toward the 2010 NPT Review
Conference. The pamphlet “Now is the Time for Action- For the 2008 Bikini Day” should be distributed widely
and used effectively to encourage grass-roots learning anddiscussions, including at local Gensuikyo seminars.
Taking advantage of the dates falling on Saturday and
Sunday, more people should be encouraged to take part ineach of the events -- March 1 Bikini Day Rally (Sat.),Japan Gensuikyo National Conference (Sun.) andInternational Youth Rally in Shizuoka (Sat.) -- withgreater mobilization befitting the start of the two-year
special campaign.
2) The Nationwide Peace March, marking the 50th
anniversary this year, should achieve a great success as aliterally nationwide undertaking of the people, keeping
alive the original spirit of the march. Participation,
endorsement and messages should be solicited frompublic entities such as local authorities and educational

5.
Strengthening
andDeveloping Gensuikyo’s
Organizational
andFinancial
Activities
andDissemination of Campaign Goods
1) Japan Gensuikyo’s organization itself and its
meetings should be the place where representatives ofprefectural Gensuikyos, affiliated national organizations
and individual officials are all present and candidlyexpress their opinions. We should promote cooperationand joint efforts with different organizations, researchers,
experts and intellectuals, for the abolition of nuclear
weapons and support of the Hibakusha. Serving as
resource persons or panelists in Gensuikyo seminars andother events, or providing professional knowledge with21

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FEBRUARY 2008

Gensuikyo Tsushin (Gensuikyo’s monthly newsletter),
our website and pamphlets, these people’s input andcontribution will be invaluable. Gensuikyo Tsushinshould play a role as an artery of the organization,
facilitating grass-roots and national campaigns andactivities. The subscribers of Gensuikyo Tsushin should
be increased across the country, looking to the year 2010.
2) Toward 2010, the emphasis on our organizational
work should be to activate local and grass-root
Gensuikyos thereby to strengthen prefectural Gensuikyos.
Starting from this year’s March 1 Bikini Day events,
greater efforts should be made to establish district/local
Gensuikyos at every city, town and village, by revitalizing
the monthly 6th and 9th Day Action, Nationwide Peace
March and sending delegates to the World Conference
against A & H Bombs. Learning from good experiencesin different localities, including that of Nanae Gensuikyo
of Hokkaido, we must recruit more individual members,

NO MORE HIROSHIMAS!

FEBRUARY 2008

as well as organizational members, and build Gensuikyos
where creativity, goodwill and vitality of each and every
member will be respected and given full play.
Organizational and individual members should rally toprefectural Gensuikyos to strengthen their financial bases
and achieve broader participation of young people in
day-to-day activities.
We must consolidate Gensuikyo’s financial basis byemphasizing this task in each of the undertakings as
sending delegates to the World Conference, distributionof educational materials among public and sales of
Chihiro Calendars, learning from a number of excellent
achievements.
3) We plan to hold a national conference ofprefectural Gensuikyo general secretaries or a conference
for organizational building of Gensuikyo at an
appropriate period in the last quarter of this year.

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