Overview

• Japanese health ministry data show only 99,130 atomic bomb survivors remain alive, with an average age of 86.13.
• Hiroshima and Nagasaki local governments have launched a scheme to certify descendants as ‘family successors’ responsible for recording survivors’ testimonies.
• Young volunteers, including 12-year-old Shun Sasaki, are guiding foreign visitors through Hiroshima Peace Park to convey the human impact of the 1945 bombings.
• Peace museums in both cities report a surge in attendance since 2023, with about one third of visitors arriving from overseas.
• Facing dwindling numbers and rising nuclear threats, many aging hibakusha are breaking decades of silence to renew calls for global disarmament.