A-bomb survivor Taniguchi's last video message released in 7 languages

The Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Survivors Council announced on Jan. 9 that it has released on YouTube the last video message of Sumiteru Taniguchi, a survivor of the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing of Nagasaki, who died in August last year, with subtitles in seven languages including Japanese.

The video was recorded on July 5 last year while Taniguchi was in hospital before the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was adopted. The message was shown at a meeting in Nagasaki to commemorate the treaty on July 8.

Taniguchi, former chairman of the council, was happy the treaty was adopted and said in the message, "I want non-nuclear powers to surround nuclear powers and make an effort to abolish nuclear arms as soon as possible." He added, "What will happen when all the A-bomb survivors are gone? That's what frightens me the most."

The video message is approximately 2 minutes long and has subtitles in Japanese, English, Spanish, French, Russian, Chinese and Korean. Shigemitsu Tanaka, the current chairman of the council, said, "As a first step to make a big push to abolish nuclear weapons, I want to convey Taniguchi's last message to the people of the world."