Hidankyo Begins Crowdfunding Round to Attend Nobel Award Ceremony

Tokyo, Nov. 15 (Jiji Press)--The Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, or Nihon Hidankyo, said Friday that it has started raising money via crowdfunding to cover expenses to travel to Oslo to accept this year's Nobel Peace Prize.

Nihon Hidankyo aims to collect 10 million yen by Dec. 15.

The group will organize a delegation of 31 people, including hibakusha atomic bomb sufferers, to attend the award ceremony on Dec. 10. In addition, they will be accompanied by six family members of elderly sufferers.

But the Nobel Committee will only pay for trips for Nihon Hidankyo's three co-chairs, including Terumi Tanaka, who will deliver a speech at the award ceremony.

"Our mission is to tell the world that we must never use nuclear weapons," Nihon Hidankyo Assistant Secretary General Jiro Hamasumi told a press conference in Tokyo, referring to the trip to Oslo. "We will send out the message 'No More Hibakusha' to the world."

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]