Court widens benefit eligibility for Nagasaki A-bomb survivors

A Japanese court on Monday ruled in favor of some of the plaintiffs who were seeking state health care benefits as survivors of the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing of Nagasaki after being exposed to the blast outside the state-designated area.

The Nagasaki District Court ordered the Nagasaki prefectural and city governments to certify 15 of the 44 plaintiffs as atomic bomb survivors who experienced the nuclear attack outside the area but within a 12-kilometer radius of the bomb's hypocenter.

Presiding Judge Shinsuke Matsunaga said there is a "relevant probability" that nuclear fallout was observed in the east Nagasaki district where the 15 were when the bomb exploded, based on surveys by the central and local governments.

They also developed illnesses included in the list of 11 diseases that are subject to government support for A-bomb survivors, according to the ruling.

In the trial, the plaintiffs, including four already dead, claimed that they developed the listed diseases, having absorbed radioactive particles from the atomic bomb or consumed food and drink contaminated with them.

The local governments argued that they were not exposed to radiation at levels that would incur health damage.

As of the end of March, there were around 6,300 individuals identified as having experienced the atomic bombing within the 12-km radius but outside the officially designated area, according to the prefectural government.

The central government has been providing them with a limited scope of support compared with state-recognized survivors.

The ruling came after Prime Minister Fumio Kishida instructed the welfare minister to arrange a relief package for such people after meeting their representative on Aug. 9 following an annual ceremony to mark the 79th anniversary of the nuclear attack on Nagasaki. Kishida represents a constituency in Hiroshima, the other Japanese city devastated by a U.S. atomic bomb in 1945.

In a related move, the Hiroshima High Court ruled in 2021 that 84 people were eligible for health care benefits from the state, even though they were exposed to radioactive "black rain" following the Hiroshima atomic bombing outside the area currently recognized by the government for official designation.

The recognition of such atomic bomb survivors in Hiroshima had resulted in a discrepancy in the treatment of those who experienced the bomb outside the area of Nagasaki.

Court widens benefit eligibility for Nagasaki A-bomb survivors

Court widens benefit eligibility for Nagasaki A-bomb survivors

Court widens benefit eligibility for Nagasaki A-bomb survivors

Court widens benefit eligibility for Nagasaki A-bomb survivors

Court widens benefit eligibility for Nagasaki A-bomb survivors