No one knows how many people died when, with the goal of bringing a swift end to World War II, the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and August 9, 1945, respectively—the only time nuclear weapons have been used in armed conflict. While tens of thousands of people were killed instantly, many more succumbed later to their injuries or radiation-related diseases. Estimates of the death toll range from 150,000 to 246,000 people, most of them civilians.
The survivors of the bombings faced not only a lifetime of traumatic memories but also ongoing social stigma due to the mistaken belief that the nuclear blasts had left them with radiation effects that were hereditary or contagious.
Yet many of these survivors found a meaningful way to move forward by focusing on a common goal: bearing witness to the horrors of nuclear weapons and working towards a world in which they would never be used again.
In 1956, various grassroots groups of hibakusha (survivors of the atomic bombings) came together to form Nihon Hidankyo. Since then, the organization has worked to improve support for survivors from the Japanese government, recorded thousands of witness accounts, and sent delegations to the United Nations and other organizations to advocate for nuclear disarmament.
Nihon Hidankyo was also pivotal in establishing the so-called “nuclear taboo"—a collective understanding that it is morally wrong to use nuclear weapons, thus keeping the world safe, despite their continued existence.
The five-member Norwegian Nobel Committee described Nihon Hidankyo’s goal of achieving “a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again.” The committee thought that recognizing their efforts was timely in a geopolitical climate in which “nuclear powers are modernizing and upgrading their arsenals; new countries appear to be preparing to acquire nuclear weapons; and threats are being made to use nuclear weapons in ongoing warfare.” According to the committee, “it is worth reminding ourselves what nuclear weapons are: the most destructive weapons the world has ever seen.”
Nine countries currently possess nuclear weapons: the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea. Collectively, there are an estimated 12,121 nuclear warheads still in existence, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The vast majority are located in military stockpiles in Russia and the United States.
In pursuit of peace:
- Last year’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Narges Mohammadi, was awarded the Prize while in prison in Iran (where she remains, as of October 2024), for her vocal support of women’s rights and human rights in Iran, including campaigning for the abolition of the death penalty.
- In previous years, numerous individuals and organizations have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their work in promoting nuclear disarmament, including the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), Swedish sociologist and diplomat Alva Myrdal, Mexican politician Alfonso García Robles, American chemist Linus Pauling, and former Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Satō.
- In a surprising reminder that the weapons used during World War II have not been entirely relegated to the history books, a 550-pound U.S. bomb left over from World War II unexpectedly exploded on October 2 on a taxiway at Miyazaki Airport in southern Japan. The blast resulted in a crater three feet deep and seven yards across. Miyazaki Airport was built in 1943 as an Imperial Navy base, and was the starting point for dozens of kamikaze missions during WWII.
