HIROSHIMA PEACE CULTURE FOUNDATIONPEACE CULTURE
Vol. 1 No.79

May 2018 (semiannual)

Hiroshima Mayor’s Visit to Norway
to Attend the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony
Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui (President of Mayors
for Peace) visited Oslo City in Norway for five days
from December 8-12, 2017, to attend the Nobel Peace
Prize Ceremony to award ICAN (International
Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons), as well as other events.

clear weapons with the Treaty on the Prohibition of
Nuclear Weapons. The audience broke into loud applause a number of times during Ms. Thurlow’s speech,
and when she finished everyone at the venue stood up to
pay their respect to the award winner.
This prize ceremony was a great opportunity to say
to the people of the world that achieving a world free of
nuclear weapons will be indispensable for creating apeaceful world, and for urging people to work together
to achieve that goal.

Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony
The ceremony was held on December 10. There
were around 1,000 guests invited to the solemn ceremony, including Mayor Matsui and Nagasaki Mayor
Tomihisa Taue. In front of the main members of ICAN
who had gathered from countries all over the world,
hibakusha, and government representatives from countries supporting the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear
Weapons, Ms. Beatrice Fihn, the director of ICAN, stated that she thinks it is abnormal that nuclear weapons
have been accepted as a fixture in the world, and pointed
out that it is nothing but luck that has enabled us to
avoid a nuclear war up until now. She stated “They don’tkeep us safe” and rejected security policies that are dependent on nuclear deterrence. She said that choosing
the end of nuclear weapons, rather than the end of thehuman race, is the rational choice, and urged all nations
to participate in the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear
Weapons.
At the ceremony Ms. Setsuko Thurlow, who survived the atomic bombing in Hiroshima, spoke about
her own experience of the bombing, stating that nuclear
weapons are not a necessary evil but an absolute evil.
She strongly urged participants to begin work to end nu-

Meetings with other state government members
Before and after the award ceremony, Mayor Matsui
held discussions with Foreign Minister Gonzalez andAmbassador Whyte from Costa Rica, which is Presidentof the Review Conference of the Nuclear NonProliferation Treaty, as well as Foreign Minister
Videgaray and two ambassadors from Mexico, who led
discussions at the Review Conference, and ambassadorsand others from states that support the Treaty such as
Austria and Ireland. Mayor Matsui told those he met
with that it is important for policymakers in nuclear
weapon states and non-nuclear weapon states to consider and discuss what is important now to achieve ourcommon objective of a peaceful world, rather than aworld of conflict. He also said that Mayors for Peacewould like to create an environment and develop public
support to push policymakers to exercise their leadership and requested each country’s support in efforts to
expand Mayors for Peace membership in each country,
in order to extend the influence of the organization. The
people he met with expressed their strong agreementwith the significance of civic activities going beyond national borders.
Attendance at other events
On December 9, Mr. Raymond Johansen, theGoverning Mayor of Oslo, Dr. Svein Stølen, Rector of
Oslo University, Hiroshima Mayor Matsui and Nagasaki
Mayor Taue planted in pots the seeds of Hackberry,
Jujube, Kurogane Holly and Gingko trees. The seeds
had been taken from trees that survived the atomic
bombing. The planting was held at Oslo University
Botanical Garden in front of just over twenty A-bomb
survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Mayor Matsui
gave a speech, in which he said that he hoped the seeds
would take root in Oslo’s soil as a symbol of peace, andTogether with hibakusha Ms. Setsuko Thurlow (second from right)

1that as they grew, the momentum for the abolition of nuclear weapons would also heighten and that the desire
for peace would be shared widely over a long period oftime.
On the same day, Mayor Matsui viewed an exhibition about the Nobel Peace Prize held at the Nobel Peace
Center. At the exhibition, as a display related to ICAN
being awarded the Peace Prize, there were articles thatbelonged to people who lost their lives in the bombingof Hiroshima and Nagasaki – the articles will be on display until November 2018. The articles of those whodied communicate a quiet yet powerful message to people about the inhumane nature of nuclear weapons. It is
hoped that the many visitors to the exhibition will reaffirm the need to abolish nuclear weapons, and that it willlead to an increase in the number of people who cooperate in Mayors for Peace activities.

bombing and the inhumanity of nuclear weapons tomore people, increase the number of cities that are members of Mayors for Peace, and strengthen our influenceon the development of opinion in the global community.
(Peace and International Solidarity Promotion Division)

Executive Director of ICAN’s
Visit to Hiroshima
On January 15, 2018, the Director of ICAN (International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons), Ms.
Beatrice Fihn, visited Hiroshima together with Mr.
Akira Kawasaki, a member of ICAN’s International
Steering Group. ICAN is the organization that won theNobel Peace Prize in 2017.
In the morning, Ms. Fihn paid her respects and offered flowers at the Memorial Cenotaph for the Atomic

Through this trip
In Oslo we keenly felt once again the importance ofthe role of civic society in achieving a world free of nuclear weapons, and the potential of civic society to influence the global community.
The abolition of nuclear weapons is not somethingthat can be achieved overnight. The current global situation means that it is hard to be optimistic for progress on
nuclear disarmament, and in that light, the fact that theNobel Peace Prize was awarded to an international campaign made up of members from non-nuclear weapon
states and civic society that contributed to the adoptionof Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, whichclearly prohibits nuclear weapons by law, has great significance. The Nobel Peace Prize 2017 has surely given
further courage and motivation to many people who aretaking action for the abolition of nuclear weapons. In
addition to all those who attended the award ceremony,
many people who joined in parades to celebrate ICAN
winning the prize and saw the ceremony in the media
strengthened their solidarity with others who have thesame aspirations. It became an opportunity to further
raise their voices so that they reach nuclear weapon
states and other states under the nuclear umbrella.
In order to create an environment that encourages thepolicymakers of nuclear weapon states to move awayfrom the illusion of nuclear deterrence, we would like tocommunicate the truth of the damage from the atomic

Ms. Fihn and Mr. Kawasaki lay a wreath at the Memorial Cenotaph
for the Atomic Bomb Victims

Bomb Victims, took a tour of the Peace Memorial
Museum, and listened to a testimony by an A-bomb survivor, learning about the reality of the damage from thebombing. In the afternoon there was a dialogue session
with young people held by the City of Hiroshima andthis Foundation, titled “In Conversation with Ms.
Beatrice Fihn, Executive Director of ICAN, the 2017
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate: Towards the Realization of

Loaning of Atomic Bomb Artifacts to the Nobel Peace Center
The Nobel Peace Center, located in Oslo, Norway, is holding an exhibition on ICAN (International Campaign toAbolish Nuclear Weapons), the organization that won the Nobel Peace Prize 2017, from December 2017 toNovember 2018.
The exhibition includes displays on the history of ICAN’s activities, as well as on the damage from the atomic
bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, Nagasaki Atomic Bomb
Museum and Ritsumeikan University’s Kyoto Museum of World Peace loaned atomic bomb artifacts for the displays.
The artifacts loaned by Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum were a bag and air raid hood belonged to
13-year-old Yukitoshi Masuda, who was exposed to the bomb at his building demolition worksite, and went missing. Yukitoshi’s father searched throughout the city looking for him, but his body was never found, and this bagwith the air raid hood inside it were found by a person in the neighborhood on August 7 and became a mementoof Yukitoshi.
(Peace Memorial Museum Curatorial Division)2

world free of nuclear weapons, and is taking action, andbecause of this the session became a precious opportunity for them to think about what actions they themselves
can take.

a Peaceful World”, where Ms. Fihn gave the keynote
lecture and participated in a discussion with young people from Hiroshima. Approximately 340 young people
and other citizens attended the dialogue session andshared with Ms. Fihn their wish for peace.
In the first part of the dialogue session, there was a
speech by Mayor Matsui, followed by the keynote lecture by Ms. Fihn, titled “We Shall Not Repeat the Evil:
How Japan Can Lead us Towards a Nuclear Free World”.
In her lecture, Ms. Fihn praised the activities of the hibakusha, saying that without the hibakusha who have continued to proactively talk about the tragedy that theyexperienced when they were faced with the horrors of
nuclear weapons, we would not have the Treaty on theProhibition of Nuclear Weapons. She also spoke about
her passionate wish for the abolition of nuclear weapons,
stating that it should be Japanese people above all, who
know better than any other country the results that nuclear weapons bring, to take the lead in nuclear disarmament. She addressed
the young people attending, saying that she
wants them to makeuse of their strengths of
hope, energy, and social media to link up
with like-minded peoMs. Fihn speaks to young people
ple and take action toduring the keynote lecture
create a better future.
In the question and answer session that followed,
there were many questions for Ms. Fihn, and it was alively session. When asked about the secret to maintaining hope when circumstances make it difficult to continue with activities, Ms. Fihn replied that it is important tobelieve that they are doing what is right, and to stay positive. She encouraged the participants by saying that
positive energy brings in more people and leads to major transformation.
In the second section, four young people
from Hiroshima gave
presentations on theirrespective peace-related activities, and thiswas followed by a dialogue between the four Four young people from Hiroshimawords of encouragement
and Ms. Fihn. Ms. Fihn receivefrom Ms. Fihn
said to the four young
people that ‘peace’ is avery difficult topic and there is not a lot of progress
made, and because of this it is hard to maintain one’s
motivation, but nonetheless it is important to be ambitious and set small objectives. At the same time, she also
encouraged them, saying that rather than waiting forsomeone to give you a chance, you have to move forward and find chances yourself, and that you have to try
to find enjoyment in the process of doing so. She also
cheered them on, advising them that it is important to
use SNS and lobby the Japanese government, which isturning its back on the Treaty on the Prohibition of
Nuclear Weapons, to change its policy.
For the young people who participated in this dialogue session, they were able to see the young Ms. Fihn
who has fully understood the wishes of the hibakusha,
properly thought about what should be done to achieve a(Peace and International Solidarity Promotion Division)

First-ever Hiroshima Training
for United Nations Tour Guides—Communicating the spirit ofHiroshima to the world—

Together with Nagasaki City, Hiroshima City set up permanent atomic bomb exhibitions consisting of A-bomb
artifacts and photo panels at United Nations facilities in
New York, Geneva and Vienna.
Large numbers of government members and international organization leaders from all over the world gather at the UN facilities to play an important role inachieving a peaceful world free of nuclear weapons.
Many tourists from countries throughout the world also
visit these facilities. Tours of the UN facilities are provided for those people, and around 400,000 people fromall over the world join the tours each year.
In order to more effectively communicate the realityof the damage from the atomic bombing through thoseexhibitions set up at the locations that have a great influence on international politics and global public opinion,
it is essential that the tour guides and staff in charge ofguided tours grasp the reality of the atomic bombing.
For this reason, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum
for the first time invited six tour guides and guided tour
staff members from three UN facilities to come toHiroshima, where they participated in the Hiroshima
Training for United Nations Tour Guides, to understandthe reality of the damage from the atomic bombing. The
training was held for the first time for four days from
December 1-4, 2017.

Day 1
At the start of the
training, Mr. Kenji
Shiga, the Director of
the Museum, gave an
overview of the reality of the bombing ina lecture, saying
Listening to a lecture“Through your guided tours, we want you
to communicate to many people what human beings lose
when they are hit by a nuclear weapon, what happens
when a nuclear weapon is used.”
The afternoon session was led by theHiroshima Peace
Vo l u n t e e r M r .
Kenichi Harada, whotook participants on atour of memorial
monuments in Peace
Observing the inside of the A-bomb
Dome
Memorial Park that3

included the inside of the A-Bomb Dome. Afterwards
the participants toured the Museum and gained an understanding of the inhumanity of nuclear weapons byobserving the items left behind by those who lost theirlives in the bombing.

were able to change our fundamental awareness and approach to the reality of the bombing,” and “The mostmemorable part of the training was the A-bomb testimony. The two A-bomb witnesses spoke vividly and ingreat detail about their horrific experiences during thebombing and their life after that. I really understood theterrible situation at the time.”
After the participants went back to their countries,
their respective UN facilities contacted us, saying “Wewant to set up a tour on the theme of nuclear disarmament,” “We will include A-bomb drawings in our tour’svisual materials,” and “We’re planning a new exhibition.” It seems that this training provided an opportunity
for the United Nations to reaffirm the need to morestrongly communicate the inhumanity of nuclear weapons.
The Hiroshima Training will continue in the future,
as an attempt to give the “spirit of Hiroshima” a louder
voice on the world stage, as we work to achieve the abolition of nuclear weapons and perpetual world peace.

Day 2
The participants received lectures intensively: “TheImpact of the Atomic Bombing on the Human Body” by
Dr. Kenji Kamiya, Vice-President of the Hiroshima
University, “Tracing the Background from the US
Atomic Bomb Development to the Dropping of theBomb, and Diplomatic Intentions” by Professor
Yasuhiro Yamada, Osaka University Graduate School,“International Situation Regarding Nuclear Weapons
Regulations and Transitions in International Treaties” by
Associate Professor Yasuhito Fukui, Hiroshima City
University Hiroshima Peace Institute, as well as an
A-bomb testimony by Mr. Takashi Teramoto, an Atomic
Bombing Witness for this Foundation.
Day 3
In the morning, participants were taken on a tour of
Miyajima, led by volunteer Ms. Akemi Yagi, where theylearned about Hiroshima’s history and Japanese traditions and culture. This was followed by a courtesy visit
to Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui. Mayor Matsui expressed his gratitude to the participants for their work
guiding people at the atomic bomb exhibitions, stating “Ihope that this gives you a good understanding of thepain that the atomic bomb inflicted on people, and thatyou will be able to share the inhumanity of nuclear
weapons both from a theoretical and emotional perspective.”
After this, the participants visited the Radiation
Effects Research Foundation. They toured theFoundation and listened to a lecture by Mr. Otsura
Niwa, the Foundation’s Chairman, on surveys and research on the health impacts of atomic bomb radiation,
as well as the social impact.

(Peace Memorial Museum Outreach Division)2017 Peace Memorial Hall Special Exhibition

The Twinkling Stars Know
Everything: Collection of Memories
by Fathers and Mothers of the AnnihilatedFirst-Year Hiroshima Itchu Students
Period: January 1 (Mon.)－December 29 (Sat.),2018
Place: Hiroshima National Peace Memorial
Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims B1F

At the Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for the
Atomic Bomb Victims, a special exhibition is held every
year on a set theme and A-bomb testimonies are introduced, to communicate the reality of the bombing. This
year, the exhibition is about the memoirs contained in abook, The Twinkling Stars Know Everything: A
Collection of Memories by Fathers and Mothers of the
Annihilated First-Year Hiroshima Itchu Students. The
exhibition has the same title as the book.
Hiroshima Prefectural Hiroshima Daiichi Junior HighSchool (Itchu) was established in 1877, and as it was renowned as one of the most prestigious schools in the prefecture that produces many people with promising talent,
it was a school that many young boys aspired to go to.
First-year students who started at the school in April
1945 were mobilized together with older students, as thewar conditions became tougher.
On the morning of August 6, the first-year students
gathered together, and after the attendance check andsome explanations about the work they would do, oddnumbered classes were sent to clean up building demolition sites in the area behind city hall, and evennumbered classes were told to wait in the classroom.
They experienced the bombing at point-blank range, lessthan one kilometer from the hypocenter when the bomb
was dropped. Some of the students who were working
outside died immediately, most of them suffered burns

Day 4
On the final day, Professor Robert Jacobs ofHiroshima City University Hiroshima Peace Institutegave a lecture on the way the atomic bombing is understood in America. The participants then listened to an
A-bomb testimony by Ms. Yoshiko Kajimoto, an atomic
bombing witness for this Foundation. In the afternoon,
participants visited the Hiroshima Office of the United
Nations Institute forTraining and Research(UNITAR), where theylistened to an explanation by staff there about
various activities, including initiatives regarding trees that
Listening to Ms. Kajimoto’s testimony
survived the bombing.
As a final overview
of the training, a discussion was held. The participants
shared their opinions on how to make use of the knowledge and experiences they gained through the training intheir future work, and how to make it useful for the people who participate in tours at UN facilities.
They provided comments on the training, saying “We
4and serious injuries, and even the students who somehow managed to make their way home all died. Many of
the students who were trapped under the school building, which was completely destroyed, also died.
The year after the bombing, an association for the bereaved families was organized. To remember their lostchildren, the association published the collection of
memoirs Our Recollections in 1954. The collection wascovered by a nationwide weekly magazine and attracted
much attention. In August of the same year, a selection of
the memoirs was edited and published as The TwinklingStars Know Everything. This book has been republishedmany times and is still read today. The feelings of theparents missing their children bring tears, and their desire
for peace is strongly communicated to the reader. By basing the exhibition this time on this collection of memoirsthat communicate the tragedy of the atomic bombing, it
was thought that this would help to tell people about “thespirit of Hiroshima”, wishing for the abolition of nuclear
weapons and perpetual world peace.

9th General Conference of Mayors
for Peace
The General Conference of Mayors for Peace, held once
every four years, was held in Nagasaki City from August
7 to 10, 2017.
This year marks the 9th time that the conference has
been held. The keynote theme this year was “Toward a
World without Nuclear Weapons－What We Can Do
Toward 2020－”.
There were 314 participants from governments,
NGOs and other organizations from 157 cities in 35
countries. Participants discussed specific measures toabolish nuclear weapons by 2020.

Opening ceremony
Hiroshima Mayor (and President of Mayors for
Peace) Kazumi Matsui was unable to attend initially because of a typhoon, so the Chairperson of thisFoundation (and Secretary-General of Mayors for
Peace) Yasuyoshi Komizo gave a speech in his place onbehalf of the conference organizers. In order to make theTreaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons adopted
in July 2017 at the United Nations legally viable, heurged civic society to unite to call for nuclear-weapon
states and nations under the nuclear umbrella who did
not participate in the treaty’s adoption to conclude thetreaty as soon as possible.
Next was a speech by Nagasaki Governor Hodo
Nakamura, representing the invited guests. There werealso video messages from those who were not able to attend the conference, including the mayors of overseas
member cities and Costa Rica’s Ambassador Whyte,
who was the chairperson of the negotiation conference
for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

Parents of the children who died and others involved with Hiroshima Itchu school gathered at the memorial monument (August 1946 /Photograph: Syoyo Akita)

In the 3-screen theater that is the central part of theexhibition, a video of A-bomb drawings together withnarration is screened, showing the memories of the children in those days and their final days. These are sevenselected memoirs written by the parents and an older sister of ftrst-year students who died in the bombing. The
final memoirs of the seven is by Toshie Fujino, and it
moves many visitors who come to the exhibition: “There
was absolutely no change in the beautiful sky from theprevious night. I remembered my son said ‘I hope thatwar will stop. There should be no war on the earth.’ Ithought that these words were not from 14-years-oldboy, but from God. Hirohisa and his friends of Itchu
who died together with him…I felt that the spirits of allthese boys had risen up into the sky and become stardust, hoping that such a disaster would never again occur on the earth. I felt that they are watching over us
quietly.”
At the venue there are displays of the clothes that thestudents were wearing when the bomb hit, a notebook inwhich one of the Itchu teachers, Mr. Goro Toda, had recorded the details of the situation at the time of thebombing and is kept in the Peace Memorial Hall, andother articles, in addition to the 26 notes.
The exhibition video may be viewed in the Memorial
Hall Library as well as on the homepage, and includes
footage filmed in the past as well. The video will beavailable for rental as a DVD for peace studies. Pleasecontact the Peace Memorial Hall if you would like toborrow the video.

Keynote speech
Ms. Izumi Nakamitsu, the United Nations UnderSecretary-General and High Representative for
Disarmament Affairs, gave the keynote speech on the
topic “The Imperatives for Disarmament in the 21stCentury”. Ms. Nakamitsu stated that for future disarmament, it will be essential to take into consideration security, a humanitarian viewpoint, development and theenvironment. She also expressed her view that in orderto put an end to unlawful and unstable activities such as
terrorism, the outflow of weapons inillegal transactions, and the illegal use of chemicaland other weapons, we should
first create standards and deal
with these issues
with global soliKeynote speech by Ms. Izumi Nakamitsu
darity.

(Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims)
5

A-bomb testimony
Ms. Sachiko Matsuo, who experienced the atomic
bombing in Nagasaki, looked back on her own experience, and said “I do not want anyone to have that experience.”

7th Japanese Member Cities Meeting
In Session (1), Yao City, Osaka Prefecture andHimeji City, Hyogo Prefecture gave presentations on examples of their activities.
In Session (2), a resolution was passed to implement
activities to recruit new member municipalities and to
submit a request to the Japanese government to put efforts into promoting activities for the abolition of nuclear weapons.
In Session (3), the summary document of the meeting was adopted, and Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue
(Vice President of Mayors for Peace) closed the meetingwith a speech.
Participants were also told that the 8th Mayors for
Peace Japanese Member Cities General Meeting in 2018
will be held in Takayama City, Gifu Prefecture.

Session I
Mayor Matsui joined the conference from this session, where he was MC. There was discussion on resolutions such as the selection of executive cities and theaction plan from 2017 to 2020. The resolutions werepassed without amendment.
A new initiative objective, “Realization of safe andresilient cities”, was added to the previous objective of“Realization of a world without nuclear weapons” in theaction plan. The new initiative objective is to work on
the construction of a peace culture, and to revitalize proactive activities in each region to address diverse issues
such as terrorism, refugees, and environmental destruction.

Session IV
This session was moderated by Mr. Masao
Tomonaga, Chairperson of the Nagasaki Global
Citizen’s Assembly for the Elimination of Nuclear
Weapons. The topic was The Role of NGOs, Civic
Organizations, and Survivors’ Organizations, and there
were activity presentations by Hanover City, Germany,
Jeju Special Administrative Province, Korea, andNagasaki Atomic Bomb Survivors’ Council, as well as
discussions.
Session V
With Mayor Taue as chairperson, the moderatorsfrom each of the sessions gave reports on the sessions.
Next, Mayor Matsui summed up the conference byreading out the Nagasaki Appeal and the Special
Resolution Requesting the Early Bringing into Effect of
the Treaty Prohibiting Nuclear Weapons. The resolution
was passed with a round of applause and all conference
items were completed.

General Conference

Session II
Mr. Tatsujiro Suzuki, director of the Nagasaki
University Research Center for Nuclear WeaponsAbolition, acted as moderator for this session on the topic of The Role of Cities. There were presentations from
Hanover City, Germany; Muntinlupa City, thePhilippines; Malakoff City and Grigny City, France; andAyabe City, Kyoto Prefecture. Each city spoke about theactive initiatives in each region, and there was a discussion on future prospects for peace and disarmament activities.

Closing ceremony
The mayor of Manchester City, UK, Mr. Eddy
Newman (Vice President of Mayors for Peace) andMayor Taue made speeches, and the General Conference
concluded with a speech by Mayor Matsui. He thanked
participants for their participation and support for the
conference, and stated his determination for all members
to work together and do their best to make definite progress towards a nuclear weapon free world by the time
the next General Conference is held in Hiroshima in
2020.
The Nagasaki Appeal and Special Resolution Calling
for the Early Validation of the Treaty on the Prohibitionof Nuclear Weapons were sent to the UN SecretaryGeneral and national governments at the end of August.
These documents and the agendas can be viewed on the
Mayors for Peace homepage (http://www.mayorsforpeace.org/english/).

Session III
At the start of the session, the recently-appointed
Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Taro Kono gave aspeech, where he said that as the only nation to havebeen bombed by nuclear weapons in war, Japan must
become a bridge between nuclear-weapon states andnon-nuclear weapon states.
The session was then held on the topic of The Roleof Young People, moderated by Ms. Keiko Nakamura,associate professor at the Nagasaki University ResearchCenter for Nuclear Weapons Abolition. There weregroup works by students from Nagasaki and Hiroshima
and the mayors of member cities, where participants
held discussions on topics such as progress on the Treaty
on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, peace educationand peace activities, and developed peace activity plansthat can be executed in each city.

(Peace and International Solidarity Promotion Division)

6

collaboration between UNIDIR and Mayors for Peace.

Secretary General Komizo’s Visit
to Russia and Switzerland tostrengthen cooperation between
Mayors for Peace member cities

Meeting with Ms. Fihn, Executive Director of
the International Campaign to Abolish
Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)
Mr. Komizo visited the headquarters of ICAN, Nobel
Peace Prize 2017 winner, and presented Ms. Fihn with aletter of congratulations from Mayor Matsui and awreath of paper cranes.
Mr. Komizo discussed which steps must be taken
now that the prohibition treaty has been adopted, andstressed the importance of continued efforts to overcome
mutual distrust through dialogue. Ms. Fihn mentionedthat ICAN is already on its way to developing new plans
and will continue to reach out to the general public toconvey in an easily understood manner the risks that wecurrently face, and the civil society initiatives currently
being undertaken.

In October 2017, Mr. Yasuyoshi Komizo, Secretary
General of Mayors for Peace, visited Volgograd, Russia
and Geneva, Switzerland. He visited Volgograd, a Vice
President and Lead City of Mayors for Peace, to further
promote Mayors for Peace activities in Russia based on
the newly adopted Action Plan. In Geneva, he met withkey figures in nuclear disarmament and discussed their
possible collaboration with Mayors for Peace member
cities and other organizations in order to encourage allstates to join the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear
Weapons.

Meeting with Ms. Lawand, Head of Arms Unitof the International Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC)
Ms. Lawand said that the one of the priorities after
the adoption of the prohibition treaty is reducing the riskof the use of nuclear weapons through encouraging dialogue with nuclear-armed states and other key actors.
Mr. Komizo agreed and mentioned that Mayors for
Peace will seize opportunities, such as the meeting of agroup of eminent people to be hosted by Japan in 2017,
to facilitate dialogue with nuclear-armed states.

Visit to Volgograd State University
Mr. Komizo gave an introduction about the“Hiroshima-Nagasaki Peace Study Course”, and expressed his hope that Volgograd State University will
start offering the course in the near future. Rector
Tarakanov showed a positive attitude to it and mentioned that his university is committed to preserving
memories of the past, and conveying them to future generations.
Meeting with Mayor Kosolapov of Volgograd
Mr. Komizo expressed his strong
hope to continue
working with theCity of Volgograd
to achieve ourcommon goal of aworld without nuclear weapons. He
also asked for
Volgograd’s help in
expanding Mayors
for Peace membership in Russia.
Lastly, Mr. Komizo
presented Mayor Meeting with Mayor Kosolapov of
Kosolapov with a Volgograd (right)
wreath of paper cranes.

Meeting with Mr. Moller, Director-General of
United Nations Office at Geneva
Mr. Komizo briefed Mr. Moller about the decision ofMayors for Peace to seek solutions to disarmament andsecurity challenges comprehensively, while encouraging
Lead Cities in each region to address regional issues
such as terrorism, refugees, etc.
Mr. Moller commented that good news like the adoption of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
and ICAN’s receiving of the Nobel Peace Prize canchange the course of nuclear disarmament favorably,
and the role of Mayors for Peace will become increasingly important.
Meeting with Ms. Whyte Gómez, Permanent
Representative of Costa Rica to the United
Nations Office and other internationalorganizations in Geneva
Ms. Whyte pointed out the lack of knowledge on nuclear weapons among young generations and stressed
the need for education.
Mr. Komizo said that he would like the aging hibakusha to see the global nuclear disarmament moving forward by the year 2020 and give them a sense ofconfidence and peace of mind.

Meeting with Mr. Bernard, Head of the Officeof External Affairs, the City of Geneva
Mr. Komizo visited the City Hall of Geneva, a member city of Mayors for Peace to meet with Mr. Steve
Bernard, who is in charge of the City’s external affairs.
Mr. Komizo asked the City of Geneva for further support of Mayors for Peace activities.

Meeting with Mr. Volker Türk, Assistant HighCommissioner for Protection, the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Mr. Komizo introduced Mr. Türk to Mayors for
Peace and spoke about the new objective, the“Realization of safe and resilient cities,” under which
each regional group seeks to address regional issues
such as the refugee crisis.

Visit to the United Nations Institute for
Disarmament Research (UNIDIR)
Mr. Komizo visited UNIDIR, a UN research institutewhich provides objective research and creative thinking
on disarmament and security, and introduced the workof Mayors for Peace and expressed his hope for future7Mr. Türk mentioned the importance of utilizing networks of cities and mayors, like Mayors for Peace does,in addressing the major refugee crisis.

directly tell Mr. Obama that he had come from
Hiroshima, and also had a conversation with Ms.
Caroline Kennedy, the former US ambassador to Japan,
who was the MC for a breakout session. Ms. Kennedy
said “the Mayors for Peace initiatives are really wonderful”.
At the end of the Closing Session, Mr. Obama said
that he considered the summit a success because the participants inspired each other and they inspired him. Afterconfirming that the participants will not be alone because of the people they met at this summit, Mr. Obamaconcluded, “Let’s get to work!”

Through this visit
Volgograd City has the historical background of being the site of Russia’s bloodiest battle during WorldWar II, and we found during this visit that Volgograd has
a strong awareness of the importance of peace and highaspirations as a Mayors for Peace Leader City.
Meetings with various dignitaries in Geneva became
precious opportunities to help strengthen connections
with international peace research bodies and build networks with international peace organizations and NGOs.
At the meetings with Ms. Fihn, Executive Director of
ICAN, and Costa Rica’s Ambassador White, Mr.
Komizo had fruitful discussions regarding initiatives after the adoption of the Treaty on the Prohibition of
Nuclear Weapons.

(Peace and International Solidarity Promotion Division)

14th Peace and Friendship Delegation to China by Hiroshima Citizens(Peace and International Solidarity Promotion Division)

The Chinese People’s Association for Peace andDisarmament (CPAPD) is a nationwide organization in
China that works to promote peace and disarmament.
This Foundation and the CPAPD have conductedmutual visits for the past 29 years, starting with the first
visit by the Hiroshima Citizen’s Peace and Friendship
Delegation to Beijing and other locations in 1988. This
time marked the 14th visit to China: a group of six people led by Mr. Ohtsura Niwa, Chairman of the Radiation
Effects Research Foundation and a Councilor of thisFoundation, visited the cities of Beijing, Tianjin andShanghai from November 10-14, 2017.

Mayors for Peace Staff Member’s
Attendance at the Obama Foundation Summit
This Foundation manages the Mayors for Peace
Secretariat. Since December 2016, this Foundation has
been in communication with the Obama Foundation, established by former US President Obama, and discussed
the possibility of future collaboration between the twofoundations. As a part of that collaboration, a staff member from thisFoundation’s Peacean d I nter natio n al
Solidarity Promotion
Division attended the
Obama Foundation
Summit that washeld in Chicago,
Illinois State in the
United States on two Former US President Obama at thedays from October opening event
31 to November 1,
2017.
This summit was attended by around five hundred
young people who play the role of leaders in various
fields in the United States and sixty countries around theworld. Participants held discussions on the ideal state ofactive citizenship in the 21st century, explored solutions
to common issues, and built cross-border networks ofyoung leaders. There were also breakout sessions andtalks by public figures from a variety of fields, including
Prince Henry of England, Italy’s former prime minister
Matteo Renzi, and others from regional communities,business, the arts and cultural fields.
Our staff member held discussions with young civic
leaders from around the world, and also explained theinitiatives of Mayors for Peace, asking for understanding and cooperation in future activities. The staff member was also fortunate enough to have the opportunity to

November 11
In Beijing, the group visited the large-scale achievements exhibition Five Years of Sheer Endeavor, deepening their understanding of the achievements of the Xi
Jinping administration over the five years since 2012.
November 12
In Tianjin City, the group visited a memorial hallcommemorating the Chinese people who were forcibly
taken to Japan at the end of World War II. They toured
the facility together with bereaved families.
This was followed by a courtesy visit to the Tianjin
Municipal People’s Government, where they requested
that the city become a member of Mayors for Peace.
Next, the group moved to Tianjin Foreign Studies
University. At the university, Mr. Hiromi Hasai and Mr.
Mutsuhiko Segoshi spoke about their atomic bomb experience in Japanese to around thirty students studying
Japanese. This was followed by a testimony by the bereaved family member of a Chinese person who was
forcibly taken to Japan. During the question and answer
session, students asked about what life was like in Japan
at the time of the bombing and about nuclear power generation today. It was a very meaningful session.
November 13
In Beijing, the group toured the Museum of the Warof Chinese People’s Resistance Against Japanese
Aggression. After this, they held a discussion with An
8

Yu e j u n , c h i e fsecretary of
CPAPD, and others on relations
between Japanand China, andtalked about future exchange ac- Discussion with Chief Secretary An Yuetivities between jun and others from CPAPD
the two organizations. The group agreed to continue with future-focusedexchange and promote mutual understanding.
During this visit, members of bereaved families ofChinese people forcibly taken to Japan also attended thediscussion with students from Tianjin Foreign Studies
University. It was extremely beneficial for the students’mutual understanding for them to be able to hear both
the Japanese and Chinese stories. We would like to continue with such exchange sessions in the future.

in quizzes andmore. There werealso presentations
and report sessions on international exchange
and cooperation
activities byyoung people and
The story hour in foreign languages
university students and the story hour in foreign languages.

Foreign cultures and Japanese culture:
introductions and hands-on activities
In terms of experiencing foreign cultures, there weresections where visitors could learn how to design a traditional Scottish kilt, try Chinese paper cut-out art, andChinese-style rope-tying. There were also sections
where participants could experience Japanese culture:trying on kimonos, tea ceremony, ikebana flower
arrangement,
Japanese calligraphy and more.
Both foreigners
and Japanese visitors could directly
experience won- Experiencing Japanese culture (tea ceremony)
derful cultures ofdifferent countries.

(Peace and International Solidarity Promotion Division)2017 International Festival
The International Festival event was held on November
19, 2017 at various venues including International
Conference Center Hiroshima and the green belt on
Peace Boulevard. This was the 18th time that the event
has been held.
A total of 65 civic groups and companies that are involved in international exchange and cooperation activities in Hiroshima and the surrounding areas held avariety of 38 different events related to intercultural understanding, the global environment, multicultural cohabitation and Japanese culture experiences. A total of
10,500 visitors, the highest number ever, came to theevent.
Visitors from both Japan and overseas spent the day
experiencing the cultures of many different countries
around the world.

World cuisine and traditional crafts bazaar
At the green belt on Peace Boulevard on the south
side of International Conference Center Hiroshima, sixteen organizations set up stalls selling foods from allover the world, as part of Hiroshima International
Village－World Food Stalls. At the International
Cooperation Bazaar, eleven organizations sold traditional crafts from various countries.
There was also a quiz rally where participants answeredquestions at each of the event venues to win a prize; theChikyu Hiroba (global space) where people of all ages
could have fun experiencing foreign cultures; a section
where participants could learn about Hiroshima City’ssister and friendship cities while making crafts; an outdoor stage with performances of dances and music fromother countries; a free visa consultation corner for nonJapanese visitors; a section with information on
Japanese language classes in Hiroshima City; a section
where visitors could donate coins from all over theworld to support children in developing nations; andmore. Each of the sections were bustling with people,
and participants furthered their knowledge and understanding of international exchange and cooperation.
Many citizens and foreign exchange students participated in this event as volunteer staff and enjoyed the day
together with the visitors.

Talk show: “Tell us Bobby! What kind ofplace is Nigeria?”
The famous Nigerian TV personality Mr. Bobby
Ologun was invited as guest and spoke about life in
Nigeria, and the role of sport in Nigeria.
The venue was quickly filled, and the audience wereentertained throughout the show with the humorous talk.
An audience said “the fast-paced talk was funny” andanother said “Nigeria feels more familiar to me than it
did before”.
Introduction to international exchange andcooperation activities
In the section introducing the activities of civic
groups, sixteen organizations set up booths and provided
information on their respective international exchange
and cooperation activities. There were also other booths
set up by governmental organizations, NGOs, university
students, companies, and more, and visitors enjoyedthemselves looking at displays of photos and other materials, dressing in national folk costumes, participating(International Relations & Cooperation Division)

9

Wondering what it was, I looked up at the sky. Therewas something that looked like an advertising balloon
shining pink and orange that drifted up to the sky. A cumulonimbus cloud then covered the whole sky as though
it was chasing it.
On the boat were many voices, saying things likemaybe an ammunitions warehouse or gas tank had exploded. We had only left Hiroshima Port an hour before
that, and it was unimaginable that there had been an air
attack by a B-29 fighter plane, not to speak of an atomic
bombing. When we arrived at the Kamagari island and I
was telling my grandmother that I had seen a huge explosion off the coast of Kure, my grandfather then camehome from the Town Hall, saying that Hiroshima iscompletely destroyed, and that the mayor of a village
neighboring Hiroshima had called to say that he is going
there to rescue.
I spent that night at my grandfather’s house. The following day, the 7 th, I went home to Hiroshima from
Kawajiri Station on the Kure line, which runs along thecoast opposite the island. Trains coming from Hiroshima
were full of people with severe burns and injuries. The
train that I took to Hiroshima stopped temporarily anumber of times on the way. It reached Yano Station,
which is three stops before Hiroshima, but did not go
any further than that, so I walked the 12-13 kilometers
to my home in Hiroshima.

Memoir of the A-bombing“Exposed to the bombing uponentering Hiroshima City, walking
through the A-bomb hell”(March 2017)by Yoshio Asano
Atomic Bombing Witness
for This Foundation

Exposed to the bomb while doing weeding work
When the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, I
was a second-year student at Hiroshima Second Middle
School. On August 5, 1945, the day before that fatefulday, I had been on the river bank at Hon River, on thesouth side of what is now Peace Memorial Park, forbuilding demolition work. Then on the 6th, the 321 firstyear students and 4 teachers who took their turn to do
the building demolition work lost their lives in the atomic bombing.
On the 6 th, the second-year students were to do
weeding work in a potato field at the Eastern Drill
Ground. It was around 2.1 km from the hypocenter. All
the students were thrown by the blast and suffered horrible burns to their face, arms and elsewhere. In the yearthat we survived, second-year students at the time,
turned sixty, we gathered memoirs written by 88 of us
and made it into a book, so that we would leave a written record of the A-bomb experiences.
There were various expressions used to describe themoment of the blast: “it was like the flash of a camera,”“it was like lightning had struck,” “it was like someone
had laid out a carpet of orange light.” The memoirs record that the students’ bodies were thrown, and when
they came to, they saw that their friends’ faces andhands were red with the skin peeling away in tatters, sothey were saying to each other “What happened toyou!?” “No, what happened to you!?”, and as they were
doing so they came to feel the pain from their own
burns.

Procession of ghosts
When I was walking, there were endless groups ofpeople, who had experienced the bombing, fleeing from
Hiroshima. They were wearing burned clothes that remained on their bodies, which had severe burns, andfrom the end of their hands that they held out in front ofthem hung down burnt skin, like rags. They looked exactly like a “procession of ghosts”.
As I came closer to Hiroshima, the damage became
greater, with houses around me going from semi-destroyed to completely destroyed.
Our house too, at 2.3 km from the hypocenter, had
broken pillars, collapsed walls, the cupboards and paper
screen doors were in a mess, and the tiles from the 1st
and 2nd floor rooves looked like a giant had rummaged
through them. Even so, miraculously my mother andyounger siblings were safe.
Walking through ground zero on the 8th
At the time, whenever there was an emergency suchas an air raid, we were supposed to contact the school.
So on the 8 th, I walked the approximately 4 km to
Hiroshima Second Middle School. On the gatepost wasa piece of paper that said “Site for corpses”, and around30 dead bodies were lying in the playground. The schoolbuilding had been leveled to the ground and there wasno one around who looked like a teacher, so pulled by
my curiosity, I headed for the city center. At the time,
we had absolutely no idea about the atomic bomb, andhad no knowledge of radiation－we did not even knowthat word. So without any concern I headed for the city
center.
The tragic sights I came across on the way were soawful that they cannot be explained in written or spoken
words, and there were a number of scenes that I stillcannot forget to this day. Next to Aioi Bridge, which isnear the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion

Seeing the mushroom cloud from the sea at
Kure military port
The reason that what should be a description of mypersonal A-bomb experience sounds like a record ofwhat happened to someone else is because when theatomic bomb was dropped I was not in Hiroshima.
As we would be working in a potato field on the 6th
and doing building demolition work on the 7th and there
were no classes, my mother asked me to go to my grandfather’s house in Kamagari island to get some sweet potatoes. So I skipped work, and on the morning of the 6th
I was on a boat that had left Hiroshima Port at 7am
heading for islands on the Seto Inland Sea.
At the islands near the military port at Kure werebattleships and aircraft carriers that had been bombedand sunk and were in a pitiful state. I was looking atthem regretfully, thinking “So this is what war is,” when
there was a flash of light.
10

Profile

Hall (the Atomic Bomb Dome), was a train that had
been derailed by the blast and was completely burned,
and there were the white bones of four or five people sitting on what must have been the seats on the train. They
must have died instantly.
In a fire cistern nearby, several charred corpses were
there burned and dead, looking like chopsticks standing.
In the midst of the huge fire that was burning tens of
thousands of buildings, the water in the cistern had
evaporated, and of the dead bodies that had soaked
themselves in the water remaining at the bottom of thecistern, the only flesh remaining was below their knees.
When I recall these bloodcurdling scenes, all color isdrained from my memories, and they appear in my mind
like a black and white film.

[Yoshio Asano]
Born in 1931. Formerly a reporter at Chugoku Shimbun newspaper.
Head of sports department, culture department, assistant managing editor, bureau chief and auditor before retiring. While working at thenewspaper, was awarded the Japan Newspaper Publishers and Editors
Association Award in 1965 as a member of the investigative team forthe long-running series “Hiroshima 20 Years Later”. Visited Italy in1982 on the invitation of a Christian group as representative of hibakusha. Chugoku Shimbun advisor.

Memoir of the A-bombing“Mission of an atomic bomb
witness”

Motivation to give my atomic bombing testimony
The reason that I decided to give my testimony of
the atomic bombing happened a few years ago. I waswatching television, where a foreign tourist visiting
Peace Memorial Park was saying “It’s good that this wasa park. If people had been living here, there would havebeen even greater damage.”* Previously when I was anewspaper reporter I had reported many times on theatomic bombing and peace, and in this way, had been involved in recording and passing on the pleas of the hibakusha in writing. But as one of the few “surviving
witnesses”, I thought once again that I should pass on
the message speaking in my own words.
Now 71 years had passed since World War II ended,and still it is said that the nuclear weapons nations havea total of 15,000 nuclear weapons. There is also no end
to the indiscriminate terror attacks by ISIS in the Middle
East even now. Just thinking of what could happen
should such fanatical groups obtain nuclear weapons
makes my blood run cold.
In May 2016, President Obama visited Hiroshima
for the first time, and dedicated flowers at the Cenotaph
for A-bomb Victims. I hope that the visit to Hiroshimaby the American president, who has huge influencearound the world, will become great momentum for theabolition of nuclear weapons, and with that wish in mind
I will continue my atomic bombing testimony activities.

(August 2017)

by Kunihiko Iida
Atomic Bomb Witness
for this Foundation
The tragic reality of the damage from the atomic bombing was kept a secret by the military until the end of thewar, and then by GHQ after the war. Recently, there is astronger movement to communicate the reality of thebombing, from the need to link that to the abolition of
nuclear weapons. However, even today the true tragedyof what happened is not fully conveyed. Different awareness of the tragedy of the bombing leads to different
measures to deal with nuclear weapons and different
stances to initiatives for a ban on such weapons. Somepeople look at the way Hiroshima has recovered andthen underestimate the atomic bombing as a result.
The use of atomic bombs not only cuts off all human
life, but all life on the planet. These are evil weaponsthat destroy the environment and turn the Earth into aplanet of death. Some people describe the bombing as a“living hell”, but that is a misunderstanding. Originally,“hell” refers, in Buddhist terms, to the lowest level inthe endless reincarnation in six posthumous worlds, andthe level of wretchedness there is such that if the person
repents, they can somehow crawl out of that place. It
does not include scenes such as those witnessed in theatomic bombing, where bodies were destroyed, burnt
and turned into skeletons instantaneously. Neither
Buddhist mandalas or pictures of hell depict the horror
seen in the atomic bombing.

* The area now known as Peace Memorial Park waspreviously an urban district called Nakajima. It is estimated that at the time of the atomic bombing, about
6,500 people lived in the Nakajima district.

The reality of the atomic bombing
At the hypocenter and the area in close proximity (0to around 500-600 meters), there was a blast of approximately 400m/sec, and a heat wave of 3,000-4,000 degrees, and as a result tens of thousands of people in thisarea had their heads split open, their eyeballs coming
out, their heads, arms and legs torn apart, and theirstomachs falling out－in that state, they were left lying,charred, on top of and under the rubble. (Reference: An
Introduction to the Atomic Bomb Tragedy by theHiroshima Peace Memorial Museum “The Spirit of

Mr. Asano reading a memorial address at the Hiroshima Second Middle School ceremony for the victims of the atomic bomb (August 6,2016) (from the City of Hiroshima records of the Peace Memorial Ceremony, an event commemorating the 70th anniversary of the bombing)11

Hiroshima” [p.67], Collection of Photographs“HIROSHIMA” by the Hiroshima Peace Culture
Foundation [p.33], “The outline of atomic bomb damage
in Hiroshima” by the Hiroshima Peace Memorial
Museum [p.18-34], etc).
A little further away (500-600 meters to 1.2km fromthe hypocenter), people had their clothes burned andskin peeled away, and they walked like a line of ghosts,
looking for water, and very soon the riverbanks and rivers were full of their dead bodies.

saw this scene, he said “This bomb is an atomic bomb,”and it is said that he was the first person to say so.
After that we reached our relatives’ house in Shinjo
Village. My mother and older sister had necrosis fromthe legs down, and they died there. Miraculously, I survived, but I was in poor condition both emotionally andphysically, and this was the start of a life of suffering.

The path to peace
As the international situation worsens, there are
15,000 nuclear weapons that exist in the world.
Moreover, the majority of those weapons are dozens oftimes powerful than the Hiroshima-type atomic bomb.
In addition, nuclear weapons have advanced to the stage
where they are now compact and highly-functional, andcan be dropped on multiple remote targets at the sametime, and it is not certain whether or not they can be intercepted. Nuclear weapons nowadays are weapons ofevil that will make more than ten million people suffer
with just one. Nuclear weapons have no deterrence capability against nuclear weapons.
If people develop awareness, like President Obama,of the horror of nuclear weapons, which will destroy theplanet itself, it is certain that they would not want to use
nuclear weapons ever again. The writer of ‘BarefootGen’, Keiji Nakazawa, said “The real horror of nuclear
weapons is too horrific, and cannot be conveyed in comics or novels.”
I only have a little time left in my life, but I believethat communicating the truly inhumane horror of theatomic bomb is the only path to world peace, and to thatend I intend to continue with my A-bomb testimony activities in Japan and overseas.

The day after bombing City center still smoldering Hondori (Photoby Mitsugi Kishida, 490m from the hypocenter, Harimaya-cho, August 7,1945)

There were miscarriages of fetuses that were deformed because of the radiation, and many babies wereborn with congenital illnesses such as microcephaly.
Later, many people died from radiation sickness such as
leukemia and cancer, and there are others who suffer after-effects such as bura-bura disease, and even now suffer from the effects of radiation, and die from diseases
such as myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), also known
as “the second leukemia”.
If this tragic reality is not communicated properly,
there will be a divergence in opinions about the abolition of nuclear weapons. I have very high expectationsof the new exhibits in the main building of theHiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, which is currently
being renovated.

Profile[Kunihiko Iida]
Born in Manchuria in 1942. Father died in the war when he was 2
years old, and mother and older sisters died in the atomic bombing
when he was 3. Raised by grandmother, uncle and aunts, graduatedfrom Hiroshima Prefectural Hiroshima Technical High School.
Employed at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, dispatched to Caterpillar
Mitsubishi and rose to the position of branch manager. After retirement, employed as a managing director at Daiichi Rental Co. Ltd.
While working, also studied psychology, and assumed positions of director at the Japan Transactional Analysis Association, consultant at
Shinri Sodaninkai (Psychological Consultants Association), and posts
as university professor and instructor.
University presidents’ awards: Armstrong State University, San
Francisco State University (US)Conciliation commissioner service award: Presiding justice at Toyama
Local Family Court

My atomic bomb experienceI experienced the atomic bombing at the home of mymother in Kako Town 900m from the hypocenter. My
mother took the hand of my older sister (4 years old),and I (3 years old) was carried by my aunt (Hiroko
Yamamoto, a 1 st year student at First Hiroshima
Prefectural Girls’ High School), and we fled to the eastend of Sumiyoshi Bridge. The scenes that we saw there:
at the end of the bridge, closest to the hypocenter, a huge
number of dead bodies were lying in a heap, ruptured
and charred; while in the area near Sumiyoshi Bridge
countless numbers of people were dying one after theother on the river banks and in the river, their clothes
burned and skin peeled away. When my uncle (Dr.
Yasuhiro Shinnaka, my mother’s younger brother) who
was studying physics at Kyoto University at the time,

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