Saturday, September 7, 2002 at 07:30 JST  Japan Today

TOKYO — Sixty-three Japanese survivors of the 1945 U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki filed applications with their respective local governments Friday for radiation illness recognition.

The current move by the residents in 15 prefectures including Chiba and Kanagawa follows the July 9 application of 76 survivors from eight prefectures including Tokyo and Hokkaido.

They are seeking recognition that their health had been affected by their exposure to radiation 57 years ago, and will be eligible for special medical benefits if successful.

The series of mass applications reflect the efforts by the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations to encourage the government to improve the recognition system, which the survivors' group calls "too stringent."

Of the 63 survivors, 13 live in Kanagawa Prefecture, 12 are from Nagasaki Prefecture, and six each are from Hiroshima and Kumamoto prefectures.

The 11 other prefectures are Hokkaido, Miyagi, Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, Ishikawa, Nagano, Shizuoka, Aichi, Mie and Kagoshima.

Hiroshi Nishi, 70, who filed the application at the Hiroshima city hall said he was willing to fight for his rights to the end, saying, "I was orphaned when I lost my family to the atomic bomb, but the state did not do anything."

Regarding the July 9 applications, the group says more than 100 survivors, including the latest applicants, are expected to jointly file suits to seek recognition of their physical state, in the event their bids are turned down.

There are also many other survivors that have applied on an individual basis and saw their bids rejected earlier, the group said.

The group says the current certification method is too limited because it relies mostly on the statistical relationship between radiation and sickness based on the amount of radiation estimated from the distance from Ground Zero.

As of the end of March, 285,620 people possessed A-bomb survivor booklets — a certificate formally recognizing their exposure to radiation after the bombings — according to Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry statistics.

Of those, 2,169 people, or about 0.76%, are recognized as suffering from radiation sickness.

"(The survivors) filed the applications today to make the government recognize that their 57 years of suffering have resulted from the bombings," the group said in a statement.

"This is a historical movement aimed not just at drastically altering the way public administration has dealt with A-bomb survivors but at changing Japan's tolerance of nuclear weapons in hopes of eradicating nuclear arms," it said.

The applicants will be eligible for special medical benefits worth 139,600 yen per month if the local governments recognize that their diseases were caused by exposure to radiation from the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on Aug 6, 1945, and of Nagasaki three days later. (Kyodo News)

How can we manifest peace on earth if we do not include everyone (all races, all nations, all religions, both sexes) in our vision of Peace?

The WorldPeace Sign

To the John WorldPeace Galleries Page

To the WorldPeace Peace Page