■□■ ABOUT US

=================================================================

Towards a world free of nuclear weapons and nuclear power

 

The World Hibakusha Exhibition (NPO No More Hibakusha) was founded by Ittetsu Morishita, who took photos of sufferers of radiation exposure (hibakushas) in Hiroshima and Nagasaki for over 40 years.

 

He and five other photographers who had been reporting on hibakushas from all over the world started holding this exhibition in 2002, and, ever since, have been showing their photos in and outside Japan.

 

Hibakushas, in many parts of the world, including Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Chernobyl, nuclear test sites and uranium mining sites, are the clearest living proof of mankind’s folly.

 

The aim of the exhibition by the six photographers is to show the world hibakushas’ experiences and testimonies through photos, and to encourage more people in the world to join the campaign for a world free of nuclear weapons and nuclear power.

 

The World Hibakusha Exhibition was suspended for 6 years because the founder Ittetsu Morishita fell ill, but it was resumed by his daughter, Miho Morishita, who held the ‘Urgent’ World Hibakusha Forum in Tokyo in December 2011 in response to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant disaster.

 

Since then, we have held our own exhibitions, or invited others to do so, both domestically and internationally, with the addition of photos from Fukushima.

 

We are also planning to hold various events jointly with citizens’ organizations and artists as part of our campaign for a nuclear free world.

 

Starting with OWABI(apologies)

        by Miho Morishita, the World Hibakusha Exhibition Representative

 

While I had been working as a care taker, I have met a number of aged people who have experienced the World War II. Many of the words I have heard from these aged people were their wanting for redemption, such as “As a human being, I have made horrible mistakes,” “I would like to make apologies.” They had passed away with feelings of remorse.

As a successor of Ittetsu Morishita, who has fallen ill and discontinued his work, I would like to restart the World Hibakusha Exhibition with words of apologies.

 

Apologies to the people Japanese army had inflicted tremendous damages on. Apologies not to have been able to prevent the wars including Vietnam and Iraq, and not to have been able to stop nuclear testing and usage of depleted uranium, which generated even more Hibakushas worldwide. Apologies to allow the constructions of nuclear power plants under the name of “Peaceful Use of Atom,” causing Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident scattering radiation worldwide.

While conveying the messages of apologies as a Japanese national, I would like to introduce the World Hibakusha Exhibition as a material to look at the reality and think about the future, not wasting the lives of hibakushas in Hiroshima, Nagasaki and in the world.