Terumi Tanaka was born on April 29, 1932. At age 13, he experienced the Nagasaki A-bomb inside his house located at 3.2 kilometers from the blast center. He lost five of his family members all at once. He cremated the body of his aunt in the field, who survived only a few days after the bombing with heavy burns.

He graduated from the Science University of Tokyo in 1960. He is a physicist in magnetochemistry and former Assistant Professor of Tohoku University.

Since 1974, he has contributed to the Hibakusha movement for the abolition of nuclear weapons and for state compensation for the damage caused by the bombings. Since he participated in the first SSOD held in the UN in 1978, Tanaka has joined meetings in the UN including the NPT review conference and visited various countries to tell the truth what the atomic bombing caused.

After working as Secretary General of the Japan Confederation of A-and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo) for 20 years, he became Co-chairperson of Hidankyo in 2017.

Nihon Hidankyo was awarded the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize, and he delivered the Nobel lecture in the Award Ceremony of the Prize in Oslo on December 10, 2024.