TOKYO: A delegation of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, or Nihon Hidankyo, departed from Tokyo’s Haneda Airport Sunday to collect its Nobel Peace Prize at Tuesday’s award ceremony in Oslo, Norway.

During the ceremony, Nihon Hidankyo’s three co-chairs, including Terumi Tanaka, a 92-year-old hibakusha atomic bomb survivor, will take the stage to receive medals and certificates, and Tanaka will give a speech.

The delegation to be entering Oslo consists of 30 people aged 32 to 92, including second- and third-generation hibakusha. Of the 30, 23 departed from Haneda Airport and will arrive in Oslo on Sunday night local time via Copenhagen, Denmark. Seven others will take different routes into Oslo.

“To continue what hibakusha have done, we need the support of the world,” Tanaka told reporters before his departure.

He said he will explain in his speech Nihon Hidankyo’s efforts of calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons. He will also talk about what he wants younger generations to inherit.

Toshiyuki Mimaki, 82, co-chair of Nihon Hidankyo, said, “The whole world should be seeking peace, but there is no progress.” He added, “We must never forget what happened 79 years ago.”

The United States dropped an atomic bomb on the western Japan city of Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, and another on the southwestern Japan city of Nagasaki three days later, in the closing days of World War II.

The Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony will be held from 1 p.m. Tuesday, followed by a banquet. Tanaka and two others will meet Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store the following day, and other delegation members will interact with local high school and university students. The delegation will return to Japan on Friday morning.

Nihon Hidankyo raised money through crowdfunding to cover costs for travel to Oslo, and about 39 million yen, nearly four times the target amount, was collected.

JIJI Press