Hibakusha living outside Japan
About 5,000 Hibakusha of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are believed to live outside Japan. After WWII, they returned to their native countries, including Korea and China, or emigrated to the United States, Brazil, and other countries. Only 1,500 Hibakusha living outside Japan are officially recognized as Hibakusha, but they fail to receive the Hibakusha allowance on the grounds that they do not live in Japan.


Hibakusha recognition
Exposed to radiation from the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 300,000 Hibakusha are still suffering from the after-effects with cancer, liver function disorders, and other diseases. They can receive special medical allowances only if the government recognizes them as Hibakusha with A-bomb-related diseases. However, the government's recognition system is so strict that only one percent of all Hibakusha has been given the certificate.



History of JCP headquarters building

For many people, the name "Yoyogi" is closely associated with the Japanese Communist Party. In 1945, just after the end of WWII, the JCP set up its headquarters in the present location at Yoyogi.

Throughout the war period, the building which the JCP took over was a welding shop. There was a period in which the Imperial Army expropriated the building. After the war's end, the owner of the building donated the land to the JCP. At that time, it was just a two-story wooden building with a big sign reading "Japanese Communist Party Headquarters" on top of it.

During the war, many buildings around Yoyogi were torn down to secure land for National Railways (now Japan Railways) tracks. But thanks to the expropriation by the army, the building which later became the JCP head office was not marked for demolition. As irony would have it, the place plays an important role in postwar Japan.

Then, a printing press and an editorial office building for the JCP organ paper "Sekki" (now Akahata) were added next to JCP headquarters.

In 1950, however, Commander in Chief of the Allied Forces Gen. Douglas MacArthur ordered a purge of JCP members from public offices, banned the JCP organ paper, and sealed off the printing press. It was in 1952 that the printing press finally resumed its operations.

The JCP today holds eight buildings here in the Yoyogi district. Changes of JCP buildings around here, in short, are part of JCP history.