‘Tis the season, as they say, and in that light we thought we’d offer something positive in this space for a change, and where better to look in the Japanese media than Asahi Shimbun’s Mado column, which usually covers heartwarming human interest stories. This one happened December 13 on an SAS aircraft that had just arrived at Haneda from an unnamed “Scandinavian country,” though it was definitely Denmark, since all SAS flights that go from Japan to Scandinavia transfer at Copenhagen.

After the flight touched down, one of the flight attendants made an announcement in Japanese expressing appreciation to three of the passengers for “dedicating your lives to the cause of a peaceful world without nuclear weapons and war.” She was referring, of course, to the three main delegates of Hidankyo, the association of victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki whose work to abolish nuclear weapons won them the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize. On the morning of Dec. 13, they were returning from Oslo, where they had attended the Peace Prize ceremony. 

The flight attendant who made the announcement was Keiko Watanabe, an SAS veteran who was in charge of this particular flight, probably because the three delegates would be on it. However, when preparations were being made in Copenhagen prior to boarding, Watanabe realized that the three delegates are in their 80s and 90s, and that they were booked in coach. She knew that their itinerary had been full. In addition to attending the ceremony, the three delegates had many meetings with VIPs, not to mention press conferences and interviews with reporters from all over the world. Watanabe knew that after such a schedule, a ten-hour flight in coach could be a burden for an elderly person and checked the business class section. There were several vacant seats, so she took a chance and sent a DM to the CEO of SAS—the first time she had ever done that—and asked, “Can’t we do something for them? They are quite elderly.”

It was a last minute plea, right before the flight was to take off, and she didn’t think the CEO would actually read the message and thus wasn’t expecting him to reply. But he did. “That’s a good idea,” said the message. “We would be happy to help. Please send me the names of the passengers.” So the three delegates were bumped up to business.

Watanabe told Asahi that her own mother had lived through the war as a girl, and while she wasn’t in Hiroshima or Nagasaki, she did have to evacuate to the countryside. Watanabe herself had visited Nagasaki where she learned about the atomic bombing, and felt that she wanted to express her personal appreciation for the work that Hidankyo was doing, so she made the specially improvised announcement herself: “Please continue to support the cause of world peace,” she said at the end. “Our staff extends its sincerest wishes for your continuing health and happiness.” The entire plane burst into applause.

It should be noted that the Nobel Committee covered the three delegates’ airfare, but apparently they only booked coach and Hidankyo didn’t have the resources for an upgrade. Actually, the entire delegation numbered some 30 people, but the rest of the group took a different flight for logistical reasons and had to resort to crowdfunding to pay for their airfare. We wonder why the group couldn’t have asked for an advance on their prize, but, in any case, it sounds as if it was easy to raise the money. Obviously, the Japanese government wasn’t going to step in. Though they’ve congratulated the organization, their enthusiasm hasn’t been what you might expect for a Nobel prize winner, probably because, officially, Japan has not signed the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, despite the fact that it is the only country in the world that has been a target of nuclear attacks. Anyway, thanks to a thoughtful flight attendant, this particular story had an even happier ending.