Terumi Tanaka

Tanaka Terumi (田中 煕巳, Tanaka Terumi, born 29 April 1932)[1] is a Japanese anti-nuclear and anti-war activist and former professor. He is a hibakusha, a survivor of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, and is the secretary general of Nihon Hidankyo, a Japan-wide organisation of atomic and hydrogen bomb sufferers.[2] He lives in Niiza, Saitama.

Terumi Tanaka
田中 煕巳
Born (1932-04-29) 29 April 1932
Manchukuo
NationalityJapanese
OrganizationNihon Hidankyo

Early life

He was born on 29 April 1932 in Manchuria in China, which was then under Japanese occupation as the puppet state of Manchukuo.[3] He later moved to Nagasaki.

Atomic bombing of Nagasaki

Tanaka was 13 years old when Nagasaki was bombed, and his home was around 3.2 kilometres from the hypocenter. He was blown through several panes of glass but did not suffer major injuries. He lost his grandfather, two uncles, an aunt, and a cousin in the bombing. He personally cremated his aunt in a nearby field after she died several days after the bombing.[4]

Postwar career

He was an associate professor in the school of engineering at Tohoku University.[3]

Activism
Terumi Tanaka, hibakusha of Nagasaki, tells young people about his experience and shows pictures. United Nations's International Atomic Energy Agency building in Vienna, during the NPT PrepCom 2007.

Tanaka has been involved with hibakusha activism since 1974, and he became secretary-general of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations in 2000.[5]

Tanaka has called upon the U.S. to offer an apology for the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.[6] He advocates for nuclear disarmament and holds that the use of nuclear weapons is never justified.[6][7][8][9] He has also condemned North Korean nuclear tests.[10]

He has also spoken out against discrimination against atomic bomb survivors and their descendants.[11]

After the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, Tanaka and Hidankyo called for the decommissioning of reactors that had already been shut down.[12]

Along with other atomic bomb survivors Tanaka attended the May 2016 speech of US President Barack Obama in Hiroshima, responding positively[13] and praising it as being "wonderful", although he regretted that Obama had not been able to make progress towards a nuclear free world.[6][14] After reading a translation of the speech and fully understanding the contents, he regretted praising the speech, stating that Obama's abstract language such as "Death fell from the sky" was unacceptable, given the bombing was a deliberate act by the US.[15][16]

In January 2017 he announced that he would retire in June at the Nikon Hidankyo General Meeting.[17]

References
  1. Profile of Terumi Tanaka
  2. Nihon Hidankyo website About Us Retrieved August 5, 2016
  3. Fujimura, Junpei Interview with Terumi Tanaka, head of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-bomb Sufferers Organizations, on nuclear disarmament conference in Oslo March 25, 2016 Retrieved August 2, 2016
  4. Tanaka, Terumi Appeal of the Hibakusha Retrieved August 3, 2016
  5. Peace Boat 2014 Retrieved August 3, 2016
  6. Elaine Lies, Atomic bomb survivors: Obama apology nice, but priority is disarmament, Reuters (May 19, 2016).
  7. Tanaka, Terumi 2000 World Conference against A & H Bombs Speech Retrieved August 3, 2016
  8. Tanaka, Terumi Speech Retrieved August 3, 2016
  9. Shibata, Mari Japan's Last A-Bomb Survivors Push to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons August 6, 2015 Retrieved August 3, 2016
  10. A-bomb survivors, families of abductees condemn North Korea’s nuclear test January 6, 2016 Japan Times Retrieved August 3, 2016
  11. Aoki, Mizuho Fukushima activist fights fear and discrimination based on radiation May 9, 2013 Japan Times Retrieved August 3, 2016
  12. Hibakusha turn against nuke power August 7, 2011 Japan Times Retrieved August 3, 2016
  13. Hibakusha rate Obama’s Hiroshima speech highly May 28, 2016 Japan Times Retrieved August 3, 2016
  14. Rich, Makoto President Obama Visits Hiroshima May 27, 2016 New York Times Retrieved August 3, 2016
  15. Hibakusha: A-bomb sufferers' group official regrets praising Obama speech August 2, 2016 Mainichi Shimbun Retrieved August 3, 2016
  16. Hibakusha group says Obama Hiroshima speech ‘avoided responsibility’ Jun 17, 2016 Japan Times Retrieved August 3, 2016
  17. Hibakusha: A-bomb survivors reflect on notion of 'amicable settlement' March 8, 2017 Mainichi Shimbun March 8, 2017


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