Latest news with #Frydnes
a day ago
- General
Hibakusha's Stories to Bring Changes to World: Nobel C'ttee Chair
News from Japan World Jul 29, 2025 09:32 (JST) Tokyo, July 29 (Jiji Press)--Norwegian Nobel Committee chair Jorgen Frydnes has emphasized that the testimonies of hibakusha, or people who survived the 1945 U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, will bring changes to the world. "Their story is also a story of memory becoming a force for change," he told a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo on Monday. He therefore highlighted the historic importance of activities of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, also known as Nihon Hidankyo, which won last year's Nobel Peace Prize. Frydnes visited the western Japan city of Hiroshima and the southwestern city of Nagasaki last week, ahead of the 80th anniversaries of the atomic bombings of the cities on Aug. 6 and 9, 1945, respectively, in the closing days of World War II. Noting that he was the first member of the committee to visit the country of the Nobel Peace Prize winner, Frydnes said, "We walked through places that changed the course of human history." [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.] Jiji Press
Kyodo News
2 days ago
- Politics
- Kyodo News
Nobel panel head urges Japan gov't to step up antinuclear stance
TOKYO - Jorgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, on Monday urged the Japanese government to take more steps to discourage the use of nuclear weapons amid rising global tensions. "Japan has special responsibility in a world where the 'nuclear taboo' is under threat. We really believe that responsibility should be taken at a higher regard also from the Japanese authorities," he said, also referring to the key roles of other countries in nuclear abolition. He made the remarks at a press conference in Tokyo during his visit to Japan, following the committee's decision last year to award the Nobel Peace Prize to Nihon Hidankyo, the country's leading group of atomic bomb survivors. Japan is the only country to have suffered nuclear attacks, and it advocates for a world without the weapons. At the same time, the country is protected by the U.S. nuclear umbrella deterrence, and it has not joined a U.N. treaty banning the weapons. Frydnes noted that responsibility must be "global" as the increased destructive power of modern nuclear arms means the damage caused is unlikely to be confined to one nation. "We cannot limit that responsibility to just one nation and particularly not to just the nation that has experienced (attacks)," he said. While in Japan, Frydnes met atomic bomb survivors, known as hibakusha, visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki and attended a nuclear disarmament event hosted by the Norwegian Nobel Institute and Nihon Hidankyo, also known as the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations. Frydnes praised Japan and the hibakusha's work to preserve the memory of the bombings, saying "we must not allow (the memories) to be lost in time or to bureaucracy or indifference." The Nobel committee said in October that it decided to award Hidankyo with the 2024 prize "for its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again." The United States dropped an atomic bomb over Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, detonating a second above Nagasaki three days later. Japan surrendered six days after the Nagasaki bombing, bringing an end to World War II. The attacks killed an estimated 214,000 people by the end of 1945.
2 days ago
- Politics
Nobel Committee Chair Calls for Listening to Hibakusha Voices
Tokyo, July 27 (Jiji Press)--Norwegian Nobel Committee chair Jorgen Frydnes delivered a speech at Sophia University in Tokyo on Sunday, highlighting the need to listen to the voices of hibakusha, who survived the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Hibakusha are "not only victims of war" but also "witnesses and teachers," Frydnes, 40, said during the Nobel Peace Prize Conference, hosted by the Norwegian Nobel Institute, which serves as the secretariat of the committee. "You (hibakusha) have turned ashes into testimony and testimony into global awareness. Over time, an international norm took stigmatizes the use of nuclear weapons as morally unacceptable. That norm is often referred to as the nuclear taboo," the committee chair noted. "The taboo is fragile, and memory fades. That is why we must listen (to the voices of hibakusha), especially now," he added. As the world is "at the edge of a new, more unstable nuclear age," Frydnes said, "We must return to the truth at the heart of the hibakusha's message." [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
Yomiuri Shimbun
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Listen to Hibakusha' Says Norwegian Nobel Committee Chair during N-Weapons Disarmament Event in Tokyo
Jorgen Watne Frydnes, the chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, emphasized the importance of listening to hibakusha atomic bomb survivors during his speech at an event on nuclear disarmament in Tokyo on Sunday. The event was part of his visit to Japan for the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 'We believe the world should listen and learn to the voices of hibakusha,' Frydnes, 40, said in his keynote speech at the Nobel Peace Prize Conference at Sophia University in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo. Last year, the committee chose Nihon Hidankyo (Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations), a national organization of hibakusha groups, as the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. Frydnes and those who accompanied him to Japan visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki on July 22 and 23, where they met and spoke with his speech on Sunday, Frydnes said that the activities of Nihon Hidankyo remind us of the catastrophic consequences of nuclear weapons. After coming to Japan, he said he felt the need to think about how to pass these activities on to future generations. He added that even young people who have not experienced the war can learn from hibakusha's stories and emphasized the importance of preserving their testimonies and related source materials. Prior to the event, Terumi Tanaka, a cochairperson of Nihon Hidankyo, held a press conference about the organization receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. 'It was a good opportunity for people all over the world to become aware of the threat of nuclear weapons,' Tanaka, 93, said. 'I think we have been tasked with spreading [hibakusha's] testimonies more widely.'
The Mainichi
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Mainichi
Nobel panel, A-bomb survivors urge youth to carry torch of peace
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The Norwegian Nobel Committee and Nihon Hidankyo, Japan's leading group of atomic bomb survivors, jointly urged younger generations at an event Sunday in Tokyo to "carry the torch" for peace by listening to the stories of survivors and keeping up the momentum for nuclear disarmament. "The nuclear taboo is under threat, and the hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors) are aging. In not too many years, we will no longer have the testimonies of those who were there, those who could tell this story," said Norwegian Nobel Committee chair Jorgen Watne Frydnes. Nihon Hidankyo, also known as the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year for its efforts to achieve a nuclear-free world through witness testimony. The symposium at Sophia University's Yotsuya Campus marked the first time the Nobel committee has traveled to a laureate's country to cohost an event. In a joint press conference, Terumi Tanaka, the 93-year-old co-chair of Nihon Hidankyo, expressed hopes that the awarding of the prize would encourage Japanese people to raise their voices "strongly enough to move the government" to take a more proactive stance in calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons. Recognizing that the future belongs to the youth, Tanaka said "I hope that going forward, young people will take an interest, engage with sensitivity, and listen to the hibakusha. I want them to reach the point of understanding that (nuclear weapons) must never be allowed to exist." Frydnes, 40, once again lauded the dedication of Nihon Hidankyo, noting that since the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to the group, many movements and individuals have reengaged on the issue of nuclear disarmament. "Hopefully (the 80th anniversary) will be a turning point where world leaders are listening to all those people around the world who say, we cannot live in a world where we are living in a nuclear prison waiting for collective annihilation," he said. Frydnes, who arrived in Japan on Monday, visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki earlier this week where he met with atomic bomb survivors and local activists working toward nuclear abolition. "Hearing about these places is different from seeing them in person, so we are grateful that he came," Tanaka said, calling the Nobel committee's visit to Japan an "honor." The U.S. atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the final days of World War II in August 1945, killing an estimated 214,000 people by the end of the year and leaving numerous survivors grappling with long-term physical and mental health challenges. At a conference later in the day on responding to the threat of nuclear arms, keynote speeches by Frydnes, Tanaka and Michiko Kodama, assistant secretary general of Nihon Hidankyo, were followed by a panel discussion on nuclear disarmament involving Asle Toje, vice chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, and Japanese academics. The event was attended by around 700 people, according to the university.
