By Yukika Saito and Ryo Moriyama,
Since 1979, monthly sit-ins by atomic bomb survivors and others in the Nagasaki Peace Park calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons and a world without war have been held on the ninth day of each month as a rallying cry for peace.
Although more than 500 sit-ins have been held to date by hibakusha, or atomic bomb survivors, since they began 45 years ago, nuclear weapons are not only still in existence but have only grown as a threat to humanity.
Sharing in their indignation, participants in the city in Japan's southwestern prefecture -- the site of the atomic bombing in the final stages of World War II on Aug. 9, 1945 -- continue their rallies in front of the Nagasaki Peace Statue in the face of the growing threat nuclear weapons pose to humanity.
For the 500th sit-in held on June 9, which fell on a Sunday, Koichi Kawano, 84, chairman of the Hibakusha Liaison Council of the Nagasaki Prefectural Peace Movement Center, made an appeal to the crowd, describing the devastation wrought by the atomic bomb to about 420 participants -- four times the usual number of hibakusha, high school students and others who attend the monthly events.
The aftermath of the bombing of Nagasaki saw many of the injured survivors wandering the streets "like a parade of ghosts," Kawano told the gathering, quoting what his grandmother had witnessed. "Humanity will perish unless nuclear weapons are gotten rid of," he told the participants.
The sit-ins have their origin in an event that took place on March 16, 1979, by the late Ryoichi Yajima, then chairman of the Council of Labor Unions in Nagasaki Prefecture, and some 30 others to protest a port call by Japan's first nuclear-powered ship, named the Mutsu, in Sasebo, Nagasaki, on Oct. 16, 1978, due to an accidental radiation leak caused by the vessel in 1974.
After the ship embarked from Sasebo Port in 1982, people began gathering for sit-ins on the ninth of each month to remember the atomic bombing of the city and to call for the abolition of nuclear weapons.
Sit-ins in front of the park's peace memorial became the norm following a protest against nuclear tests by hibakusha, including Takeshi Yamakawa, 87, and four other Nagasaki school teachers in 1974.
Yamakawa, who began to fully join the monthly sit-ins after retirement, said, "We can express our opposition to nuclear weapons even through a sit-in of a few minutes. It is a movement that is easy to take part in."
With the exception of Aug. 9, the day that marks the atomic bombing of the city when the Peace Memorial Ceremony is held, the sit-in rallies have continued without fail on the ninth of each month, even on snow days and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
While skeptics are doubtful that sit-ins can lead to the abolition of nuclear weapons, Shohei Tsuiki, 97, one of the five school teachers, still finds "meaning in expressing opposition to nuclear weapons."
Tsuiki had taken part in the monthly sit-ins before becoming physically unable to do so a decade ago due to his advanced age.
While nuclear-armed nations, in particular, maintain policies of nuclear deterrence and are not moving toward abolition, there are also moves to push states to ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
But the United States as well as other countries with nuclear arsenals have not signed on since the treaty was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in July 2017, citing the fact that it is "not likely to produce any results" as the treaty has not been ratified by any of the states in possession of nuclear weapons.
Though discouraged by nuclear powers and other countries that have so far stuck to a policy based on the promise of retaliation and possibly mutually assured destruction, Tsuiki said, "I feel that anti-nuclear sentiment has spread somewhat compared to when we started our protest movement."
The number of hibakusha, who have led the sit-ins, has decreased significantly, only accounting for some 10 percent of participants in recent years.
But young people have been attending and are ready to pick up the mantle, such as 17-year-old Koharu Osawa, a student at Chinzei Gakuin High School in Nagasaki Prefecture who attended the 500th sit-in.
"I will pass on what I have learned from hibakusha down to my juniors and strive to keep this movement active among future generations," she said.
Related coverage:
Nagasaki mayor says Israel not invited to A-bomb peace ceremony
FEATURE: Nagasaki survivor-doctor works for nuke-free world into his 80s
Hiroshima survivor who broke silence at 70 seeks "blue sky" of peace
By Mei Kodama,