Nagasaki survivor who campaigned against nuclear weapons

Born: January 26, 1929;

Died: August 30, 2017

SUMITERU Taniguchi, who has died aged 88, was a survivor of the 1945 atomic bomb attack on his home town of Nagasaki who went on to devote his life to seeking the abolition of nuclear weapons.

Mr Taniguchi was 16 and working as a postman on August 9 1945 when a US atomic bomb was dropped on the city. The blast 1.1 miles away threw him off his bicycle, almost killing him.

The Nagasaki attack killed more than 70,000 people. The bombing of Hiroshima three days earlier killed an estimated 140,000. Six days after the Nagasaki bombing, Japan surrendered, thereby ending the Second World War.

Mr Taniguchi could only lie on his stomach for nearly two years as he was treated for the burns that exposed flesh and bones. He later formed a survivors' group and subsequently led a national effort against nuclear proliferation.

In an interview two years ago, he took his shirt off to show his scars, to describe his painful past and tell the world the tragedy should never be repeated. He said he wanted no-one else to have to suffer the pain of nuclear weapons.

His health declined in the last few years from age and illnesses.

Taniguchi was born in Fukuoka, on the island of Kyushu and went to work for the post office after graduating from middle school. After the bombing, it took Taniguchi a decade to seriously recover and after learning to walk again, he joined a youth group and began working as an anti-nuclear activist. Every year on the anniversary of the Nagasaki bombing, he would attend a sit-in in the city and is believed to have attended nearly 400 protests.

In 2006, he was appointed chairman of the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Survivors Council and in 2010 gave a speech at the United Nations in New York during a meeting to consider a non-proliferation treaty.

Terumi Tanaka, secretary general of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, said of Taniguchi: “He played a tremendous role. But unless all countries sign the treaty, there is no guarantee that nuclear weapons will disappear. I wanted him to keep working together to achieve our complete goal. He staked his whole life on this movement.”

In a video message in July, Taniguchi welcomed the UN nuclear weapons prohibition treaty, but expressed concerns about the declining population of the survivors, known in Japan as hibakusha.

"I wonder what the world will be like when it loses the last atomic bombing survivor," he said.

Tomihisa Taue, the mayor of Nagasaki, said: “After I received the news of his death, I realized the era when there are hibakusha is getting closer to the end. I think we can truly show our gratitude to Mr Taniguchi when I can pass on the baton of his wish, which is that the same thing never happens again, and that there will be no more hibakusha.”

Taniguchi died in hospital in Nagasaki of cancer of the duodenal papilla, the point where the pancreatic and bile ducts meet, according to the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organisation.

He is survived by a daughter, son, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.