Photo/Illutration Participants of the 499th protest sit-in, seen here in Nagasaki on May 9, called, among other things, for an early settlement of the issue of “A-bomb experiencers.” (Takashi Ogawa)

NAGASAKI--Atomic bomb survivors rallied at the Peace Park here on June 9 for the 500th protest sit-in they have continued staging on the ninth day of every month for more than four decades. 

The monthly sit-ins have served, for 45 years, as a venue for appealing to public opinion on various causes, including opposition to nuclear tests and a call for legislation that would provide assistance to atomic bomb survivors.

The unchanging backbone of the movement has been the antinuclear and antiwar sentiment of this western city, which was destroyed by the atomic bomb on Aug. 9, 1945.

Slightly past noon on May 9, a group of about 100 people, including hibakusha atomic bomb survivors in grizzled hair and their supporters, were seen putting up a banner, a placard and other signs as they sat in protest, in sweaty humid weather, in front of the Peace Statue in Nagasaki Peace Park.

Painted on the signs were appeals calling for an end to the fighting in Ukraine and in the Palestinian autonomous territory of Gaza.

In addition, the protesters called for relief for the so-called “A-bomb experiencers,” who were exposed to radioactive fallout but are not entitled to receive an Atomic Bomb Survivor’s Certificate because they did not reside in the government-designated “A-bombed zone.”

“Immediate cease-fire,” one slogan said. “A-bomb experiencers are A-bomb survivors,” said another.

Non-Japanese tourists and students on school excursions, who were visiting the park, were seen watching the protesters from afar.

“Hankaku 9 no Hi Suwarikomi” (Ninth-day sit-ins against nukes), as the action is called, was marking its 499th session on that day.

Koichi Kawano, chairman of the Nagasaki Prefecture peace movement center’s hibakusha liaison council, one of the organizers, said he has been taking part in the monthly sit-downs for nearly 20 years since he retired from his job.

He said he has been taking a bus to commute to the protest venue from his home, rain or shine.

“This is about the only thing I could do,” said Kawano, 84. “I believe the fact that we are doing sit-downs here will make impressions on many people, including those in countries that are conducting nuclear tests.”

The sit-ins began in 1979.

The Mutsu, a nuclear-powered ship that had caused a radiation leak, had entered Sasebo Port in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, for repairs, a development that angered hibakusha.

Starting on March 16, 1979, precisely five months after the Mutsu’s port entry, protesters began engaging in sit-ins on the 16th day of every month on the initiative of parties including a labor group and a pacifist group.

The protests have changed over time. The date of the sit-in was also moved to the ninth day of each month except Aug. 9, the anniversary of Nagasaki’s atomic bombing.

A photo of a sit-in from an earlier year shows a banner calling for enactment of legislation that would provide health care and other assistance to hibakusha. That was before the Atomic Bomb Survivors’ Assistance Law was enacted in 1994.

Another photo shows a banner protesting France’s nuclear tests. The ages of the participants have risen during the course of the 500 rallies.

“We have been doing this for so many years that some regular participants have stopped coming, and we have also been told that others have died,” Kawano said.

He said he is pinning his hopes on younger people to carry on the sit-ins. 

“I hope some of them, even if it is only one or two, will want to sit with us,” Kawano said.

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