My Personal Relationship with Gensuikyo
by Earle Reynolds (1962)
This document recounts Earle Reynold’s growing disillusionment with the Japan Council Against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs involvement, known as Gensuikyo.
It tells another chapter in the story told in “The Phoenix of Hiroshima,” Western Friend, March/April 2015. (https://westernfriend.org/article/phoenix-hiroshima)
More background:
From Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earle_L._Reynolds):
“Reynolds became a spokesman for the Japanese peace movement and attempted to work with its Gensuikyo branch until he found it too political for his taste, reporting to the press, "Peace cannot be achieved in an atmosphere of hatred."
From the Gensuikyo wegsite (http://www.antiatom.org/english/profile/):
“The Japan Council against A & H Bombs was founded on September 19, 1955, following the first World Conference against A and H Bombs in August the same year.
“The background was the mounting nationwide protests against the damage from the hydrogen bomb test, which the US conducted on March 1, 1954 at the Bikini Atoll in the central Pacific. More than 32 million signatures then collected in demanding a ban on nuclear weapons represented a strong desire of the whole Japanese people for peace and against nuclear weapons.
“Since the founding, we, Gensuikyo, have developed many forms of actions to reach the three basic goals of 1) the prevention of nuclear war, 2) a ban on and the elimination of nuclear weapons, 3) the relief and solidarity with the Hibakusha, the A-bomb sufferers, includding the annual World Conference against A & H Bombs in every August, constant and narionwide signature campaigns for a ban on nuclear weapons, events and actions in cooperation with the Hibakusha to make known the damage and health effects of the A-bombings to general public.”