HIROSHIMA RESEARCH NEWS
Hiroshima Peace Institute Vol.11 No.2 November 2008

Hiroshima Peace Institute and Hiroshima Peace Media Center, Chugoku Shimbun,
co-organized an international symposium entitled “Approaching Nuclear
Abolition from Hiroshima: Empowering the World to Impact the 2010 NPT
Review Conference” at International Conference Center Hiroshima on August 2,
2008. It was a memorial event to celebrate the 10th anniversary of HPI, which wasestablished in April 1998, and the establishment of the Hiroshima Peace Media
Center in January 2008. An audience of 400 participated in the four-hour
symposium including keynote speeches, panelist reports, and discussions.
(Summary of Speeches, Reports, and Discussions on pages 2 and 3.)
International nuclear disarmament has been stagnant since the nuclear tests
conducted by India and Pakistan, and especially since the beginning of the “war on
terror” which was initiated by the US after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001. The
aim of the symposium was to push for change at the 2010 NPT Review Conference
and revitalize the role of governments, civil society, and Hiroshima to realize
nuclear abolition.
At the first session designated for keynote speeches, Jayantha Dhanapala, aformer Sri Lankan diplomat and previously Under-Secretary-General of the UN,
who is currently President of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World
Affairs, gave the first keynote speech entitled “Energizing Global Civil Society for
Nuclear Disarmament.” In his speech, Dhanapala criticized the five nuclear
powers of the NPT, namely the US, Russia, the UK, France, and China ｜particularly the US ｜ for their continued reliance on nuclear weapons, andemphasized the need to achieve nuclear abolition by empowering civil society,drawing on the successful example of the Mine Ban Treaty.
The next speaker was Rebecca Johnson, Executive Director of the Acronym
Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy, a leading NGO in the field of nuclear
disarmament based in the UK. In her keynote speech entitled “From Nonproliferation
to a World Free of Nuclear Weapons,” Johnson stressed that the road to nuclear
abolition is not a long way away, noting that if we “track back from achievement of
the goal, we are actually only two or three stages away from the summit.”
At the second session designed for panelist presentations, Akira Tashiro,
Executive Director of the Hiroshima Peace Media Center, Chugoku Shimbun,
presented a report entitled “Eyeing Nuclear Weapons Abolition: Voices of theWorld and the Role of Japan” in which he summarized the result of a survey on
nuclear weapons, composed of 40 questions, conducted on the newspaper’s website
from May to June. A total of 210 individuals and organizations from 18 countries
responded to the survey, and more than 80% of both domestic and overseas
respondents said “yes” to the question “Do you believe that nuclear weapons shouldbe abolished?”, although it is possible that the result may be statistically biased. To
the question “Do you believe that nuclear weapons abolition is possible?”, 84% of
the overseas respondents said “yes” whereas only 54% of the Japanese answered
positively, suggesting that Japanese are more pessimistic in their views.
Next, Akira Kawasaki, Executive Committee Member of Peace Boat,
presented a report entitled “Article 9 and Nuclear Weapons Abolition: Role ofJapanese Citizens.” Kawasaki pointed out that Article 9 of the JapaneseConstitution embodied what we have learned from the experience of the atomic
bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, battle in Okinawa, and our remorse foraggression in Asia. Kawasaki added that Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution islinked to Article 26 of the UN Charter which provides “the least diversion forarmaments of the world’s human and economic resources” and can become acontribution towards peace in contemporary international society.
Steven L. Leeper, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Hiroshima Peace

Culture Foundation, gave a report on “Mayors for Peace and the HiroshimaNagasaki Protocol” in which he introduced the plan of the Foundation to implement
101 atomic bomb exhibitions in the US in 2007 and 2008, and the HiroshimaNagasaki Protocol, announced by the Mayors for Peace in April 2008, that outlines
the process towards nuclear abolition. So far, the membership of Mayors for Peacehas increased to 2,368 cities in 131 countries, and they are working for nuclear
abolition by collecting signatures to show support for the Protocol.
The first half of the third session was for discussions by all the speakers andpanelists. On the first topic, “the road to nuclear abolition,” Kawasaki asserted that
the Japanese government should change its position of relying on the US “nuclear
umbrella,” while Johnson maintained that the reality of nuclear deterrence should
be exposed and that nations should not predicate their national security based on
weapons of mass destruction. Dhanapala said that nuclear deterrence cannot work
against suicide terrorist attacks, emphasizing human security including theenvironment, human rights and development.
Regarding the next topic, “the role of governments,” Dhanapala proposedthat the member states of the NPT decide the time limit for nuclear abolition at the2010 NPT Review Conference and that they should discuss how to deal with the
US for not abiding by the decisions made by the NPT. Johnson pointed out theneed for the member states’ continued efforts to strengthen the NPT regime,
criticizing the UK government for planning the renewal of the Trident missiles andthe Japanese government for relying on the US nuclear umbrella. Tashiro
demanded that the Japanese government, as a victim state of nuclear weapons,should take the initiative, while Kawasaki insisted that Japanese citizens should
watch their government closely so that it does not approve the US-India nuclear
agreement. Leeper proposed that the Japanese government, as a close ally of theUS, should advise the US to abolish nuclear weapons soon.
In the second half of the third session, youth representatives from Hiroshima
and Nagasaki who are engaged in various peace-related activities madepresentations. The speakers consisted of one member from the Hiroshima Peace
Volunteers, three junior reporters from “Peace Seeds,” a peace newspaper
produced by Japanese teenagers in Hiroshima that is featured on the pages of The
Chugoku Shimbun, and a leader of a student volunteer group called “KUSU” at
Nagasaki University which distributes seeds of an A-bombed camphor tree as asymbol of peace.
In this symposium some new insights were presented with regard to the roleof civil society in nuclear abolition. Firstly, we should not undervalue the power ofcivil society. It has already been demonstrated in the process of the Mine Ban
Treaty and the Cluster Munitions Treaty. Secondly, citizens should not be
pessimistic in realizing the goal of nuclear abolition. We need to reverse our wayof thinking by, for instance, tracking back from the achievement of the goal of aworld free of nuclear weapons.
Regarding the debate on Article 9, we should not start from such an argument as
to whether the Constitution was forced upon Japan by the US or not. Rather, weshould focus on the commonality between Article 9 and the UN Charter which
declares that resources used for armaments must be minimized and make Article 9
function as a peace mechanism in today’s world. In this way, the movement topreserve Article 9 can be connected to the nuclear abolition movement. The action ofMayors for Peace to realize nuclear abolition through the Hiroshima-Nagasaki
Protocol should seek more support by linking itself to the new ideas mentioned above.
Based on the result of the survey which shows that Japanese citizens are more
pessimistic about nuclear abolition than their international counterparts, we should
start by energizing the activities of civil society towards the 2010 NPT Review
Conference.
Mizumoto is associate professor at HPICONTENTSHPI Symposium on August 2, 2008
“Examining Measures to Revitalize the Civil Society for Nuclear Abolition”………………………………… 1-3<Reflections from Hiroshima: The 9th in a Series>
The Former Mayor of Hatsukaichi on Peace and Iwakuni (Saburo Yamashita) … 4-5
Iranian Ambassador's Visit to the HPI …………………………………… 5
HPI’s Lecture Series for Citizens of Hiroshima ………………………… 6<HPI Research Forums>
Film as a Tool to Transmit the Story of Survival: The Last Atomic Bomb (Kathleen Sullivan) … 7
Opposition to the Wars in Vietnam and Iraq (Paul Joseph) ………………… 7
Diary ………………………………………………………………………… 8

HIROSHIMA RESEARCH NEWS, Vol.11 No.2 November 2008

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Symposium

Energizing Global Civil Society for Nuclear Disarmament
Jayantha Dhanapala, President of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs
Civil society in the post-Cold War situation has
become so influential that it has been described as the“other superpower.” Organized efforts by civilsociety against nuclear proliferation started in the
1950s in the UK and Europe. The Partial Test Ban Treaty in 1963 was one of
the results of these efforts. There was a revival of the anti-nuclear movementin the early 1980s when both the US and the Soviet Union deployedintermediate-range nuclear missiles in Europe, which finally led the two
superpowers to reduce their nuclear arsenals and to sign the IntermediateRange Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in 1987.
Following the end of the Cold War, we are facing more diverse security
challenges. World military spending in 2007 totaled $1,399 billion, with a
45% increase since 1998, which corresponded to $202 per person in theworld. While little progress has been made with regard to the Comprehensive
Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT), thenumber of nuclear weapon states has increased to eight where a total of
25,000 nuclear warheads are maintained. A nuclear war between two
countries, such as India and Pakistan, using 50 Hiroshima-sized nuclear
bombs, could produce climate change unprecedented in human history. A
nuclear war between the US and Russia would lead to a nuclear winterthreatening global food supply. In addition to the spread of nuclear weapons
at the state level, proliferation to non-state actors and terrorist organizations
must be detected and deterred.

However, nuclear states have been ignoring the 13 steps on nuclear
disarmament adopted by the 2000 NPT Review Conference, such as entry into
force of the CTBT and conclusion of FMCT. The US-Russian Strategic
Offensive Reductions Treaty of 2002 is silent on verification of reduction of
nuclear weapons. The ongoing negotiations on the US-India bilateral nuclear
agreement would grant approval to India’s nuclear status. Major nuclear
powers, the US, Russia, the UK, France, and China, are still maintaining themodernization of nuclear arsenals at the center of their national security. In
particular, the US alone accounted for 45% of the world total militaryspending in 2007, and its extension of missile defense in Europe has createdtensions between Russia and the US. A change in the US nuclear policy after
the impending US Presidential election, renewed US leadership in nuclear
disarmament, and cooperation of the world community towards it are vital in
reducing and eventually eliminating nuclear weapons.
It is time that global civil society coordinated efforts to fight nuclear
dangers. Civil society and NGOs played an important role in the making of
the Mine Ban Treaty in 1997, in the conclusion of the draft of a Cluster
Munitions Treaty in May this year and in seeking the advisory opinion of theInternational Court of Justice (ICJ) on the legal status of nuclear weapons in
1996. Civil society and NGOs, by serving as bridges to link governments withpeople, are more essential than ever for promotion of multilateral cooperation
across national borders.

From Nonproliferation to a World Free of Nuclear Weapons
Rebecca Johnson, Executive Director of the Acronym InstituteIn this presentation, I will introduce a view that ourgoal of achieving nuclear abolition is not a long way
away. If we apply the strategic tool of reverse
engineering to track back from the goal, we are
actually only two or three stages away from the summit.
In achieving a world free of nuclear weapons, we need to make sure thatthe world becomes a safer place. For that goal, there will have to be
multinational negotiations on a Nuclear Weapon Convention (NWC) that willcodify the prohibition of acquisition and use of nuclear weapons and the safe
and secure elimination of the existing arsenals. Civil society scientists,
lawyers and practitioners developed the Model Nuclear Weapon Convention
some years ago, and updated and republished it last year. The Model
Convention formed an important part of the new International Campaign toAbolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).
What prevents the nuclear genie from being put back into its bottle is thehigh value still accorded to nuclear weapons by the nuclear states. To thispoint, the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission comprising 14
representatives from key countries employed in its report in 2006 the conceptof “outlawing” nuclear weapons.
In building on the disarmament for security theme, we must make sure that
deterrence theory is not proved right. Besides, we need to reduce reliance onother weapons and move defense responses away from military-dependent
national security. The human security paradigm, that recognizes the corethreats to human existence and civilization, is already beginning to supplant
the national security paradigm of competing states. For the threats posed byclimate changes, global poverty, shortages of food and water, trans-boundary
crime, terrorism and drug trafficking, military measures cannot deliver
successful solutions.
We need pre-negotiation stepping stones to initiate multilateral negotiations
on an NWC. A terrible shock, such as the Cuban Missile Crisis, and a major
political shift, for example, renunciation of nuclear weapons by major nuclear
states, might be the most common types. If the UK government renounces therenewal of Trident missiles, it could provide a big influence. Four former US
leaders including Henry Kissinger called for the US to take the lead in
reducing nuclear arsenals. Another effective way is to make the use of nuclear
weapons a crime against humanity. It could be effective if the non-nuclear
weapon states including Japan take the lead by making unilateral declarations,or put forward a resolution at the UN to declare and treat the use of nuclear
weapons as a crime against humanity. International campaigns such as theHiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol could also apply pressure on the key states to
get to the negotiation table.
If we could reach the pre-negotiation phase, we are actually only two or
three stages away from the negotiations on an NWC and we could completely
abolish nuclear weapons by the year 2020. For this goal, we need the full andengaged work of civil society ― active experts, expert activists, andgovernments in between.

Eyeing Nuclear Weapons Abolition:
Voices of the World and the Role of Japan
Akira Tashiro, Executive Director, Hiroshima Peace Media Center / Senior Staff Writer, Chugoku Shimbun
The Hiroshima Peace Media Center conducted asurvey on nuclear weapons through our website from
May to June this year and a total of 210 individuals
and organizations from 18 countries responded. I would like to highlight theresults today.
Regarding the question “Do you believe that nuclear weapons should be
abolished?”, 83% of the Japanese respondents and 86% of the overseas
respondents answered “yes.” However, to the question “Do you believe that
nuclear weapons abolition is possible?”, 54% of the Japanese respondents said
“yes” whereas 84% of the overseas respondents said “yes.” To the question“Was nuclear deterrence effective during the Cold War?”, 45% of theJapanese respondents said “it was effective” whereas only 27% of theoverseas respondents agreed. In spite of the atomic bombing experience,
Japanese people seem more pessimistic and were more accepting of nuclear
deterrence. As to the question on the effectiveness of nuclear deterrence after
the Cold War, 64% of the Japanese respondents and 71% of the overseas
respondents said it has become “ineffective,” which illustrates the high senseof alarm regarding nuclear proliferation both in Japan and abroad.
With regard to the evaluation of the Japanese government’s efforts to

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abolish nuclear weapons, 79% of the Japanese respondents said it was“ineffective.” Among the overseas respondents, 34% called it “ineffective”
and 40% said they “don’t know.” These answers reflect the Japanese
government’s passive stance towards nuclear abolition. Many respondents
pointed out the contradiction of the Japanese government between advocating
nuclear abolition and reliance on a nuclear umbrella. Also, the huge stockpileof plutonium in Japan and the remarks by some Japanese politicians to justify
Japan’s possession of
nuclear weapons caused
suspicions among someoverseas respondents. We
should take initiative
towards nuclear abolition
from Hiroshima andNagasaki including theestablishment of security
policies which are notdependent upon a nuclear
umbrella.

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Symposium

Article 9 and Nuclear Weapons Abolition: Role of Japanese Citizens
Akira Kawasaki, Executive Committee Member of Peace Boat
We have started an initiative to utilize Article 9 ofJapan’s Constitution on a global scale. At the “Global
Article 9 Conference to Abolish War” which weorganized in May this year at Makuhari, Japan, morethan 20,000 people attended. Similar events were
held in four cities in Japan and over 30,000 people participated. At theConference, we realized that Article 9 can function as an international peacemechanism. Renunciation of war, an idea based on Article 9, has already been
adopted in the final document of the Hague Appeal for Peace in 1999 and the
UN conference on “Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict”(GPPAC) in 2005.
Behind Article 9 are lessons we have learned from the experience of atomic

bombing in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, battle in Okinawa, and repentance forJapan’s aggression in Asia, and Japanese society has held on to this for 60
years. People in the world have started to recognize that the justification of
Article 9 is what we need in the 21st century.
At the Conference, we focused on three points: (1) conflict prevention andpeaceful settlement of disputes, (2) diversion of resources from military tohuman development, and (3) promoting human rights to live in peace. Article
26 of the UN Charter specifies that resources to be spent for armament should
be minimized. The “war on terror” sheds light on the importance of the rights
of human beings, including soldiers, to live in peace. These concepts havecommonality with Article 9. We want to retain actions believing that theexperience of Hiroshima is linked to a global standard of peace.

Mayors for Peace and the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol
Steven Leeper, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation
The Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation is
implementing a total of 101 atomic bombing
exhibitions in the US in 2007 and 2008, and I havespent a few months in the US with hibakusha (atomic
survivors) to make speeches at the exhibitions. At
those venues I have introduced the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol, which
Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba announced in April this year as the president of“Mayors for Peace.” Many US citizens were glad to learn of it and eager tohelp promote it.
The Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol specifies that all nuclear weapon statesshould make a good faith effort to complete the elimination of all nuclear
weapons by 2020. We are offering the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol for

adoption at the 2010 NPT Review Conference, hoping that 150 or 170 nations
will express formal support for it before or during the Conference.
After the 2010 NPT Review Conference, Mayors for Peace intends to holda conference on the “Grand Opening of the Decisive Decade,” which refers to
the Decade of Disarmament designated by the UN. Mayors for Peace today
has 2,368 member cities in 131 countries and is adding one or two newmembers every day. One of its actions is the “Cities Are Not Targets”(CANT) project, which is a call to ban the victimization of innocent children
and noncombatants through the use of violent force in cities.
The fate of the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol is the fate of the human race
itself. Tens of millions of signatures supporting it would be very influential.
We will fight as hard as we can for this protocol.

Visions of Future Leaders: Presentations by Young Citizens
My Thoughts as a Peace Volunteer

Spreading the Seeds of KUSU

Maki Nakamoto, Member of Hiroshima Peace Volunteers

Michiaki Yamabe,

Hiroshima Peace Volunteers is a group of volunteer
citizens recruited and trained by the Hiroshima
Peace Memorial Museum. Their work is to guideand convey the reality of the atomic bombing
experience to the visitors of the Museum and theHiroshima Peace Memorial Park. Currently 224
volunteers are registered, of which 38 members are
atomic bomb survivors. According to a survey by
the City of Hiroshima, 55.7% of the respondents answered that “maintaining theatomic bombing experience and its memory” is an important project of peace, andthe aim of Hiroshima Peace Volunteers is to work towards it.
My decision to join the Peace Volunteers was largely due to my grandmother,
who is an atomic bomb survivor. She was A-bombed at the age of 20, but she neverwanted to talk about her experience, saying that “it cannot be understood except by
those who experienced it.” I applied for the Peace Volunteers, hoping to convey theimportance of peace and life to younger generations while my grandmother is still
alive. I would like to act for peace by doing what I can, however small it may be.

Student Leader of “KUSU,” a volunteer circle for peace and environment, at Nagasaki University

At 11:02 a.m. on August 9, 1945, the city of Nagasaki
with its prosperity built from exoticism since the Edo
period became ashes in one second caused by the
explosion of an atomic bomb. Although it was said that
there would be no shoots of grasses and trees for 75
years, the big tree of camphor which was 600 years old,standing 800 meters from the hypocenter, had new
sprouts two years later and now is covered with many
green leaves. Our activity is to cultivate seedlings of the camphor tree from the seeds
and send them to many places in Japan including schools and citizens groups. We
sometimes visit schools with the seedlings to convey our wish for nuclear abolition. In
September last year we went to an elementary school in Hyogo Prefecture, gave aspeech on the atomic bombing in Nagasaki and were given a letter of appreciation fromthe school. In order to convey that nuclear weapons are dangerous weapons that threaten
the environment, we will keep up our activities of sending seedlings of the atomicsurvived camphor tree to many places in Japan and appeal for nuclear abolition.

Hiroshima and the Atomic Bomb through the Eyes of Junior Writers
Masahiro Mikoshi, Rikako Okada, and Aya Tsuchie, Junior Writers of “Peace Seeds”“Peace Seeds” is a peace newspaper produced by
Japanese teenagers in Hiroshima, featured on thepages of The Chugoku Shimbun, and involves 22
junior writers from sixth-year elementary school
children to third-year high school students. So far, a
total of 34 issues have been published from January
2007 to July 2008. For the 30th issue, we wrote anarticle by conducting e-mail interviews with all the Lower House Speakers of the G8
countries who are coming to the Summit of Lower House Speakers in Hiroshima in
September, and we have received replies from all of them except Russia. (Okada)In the fourth issue we carried out a survey on peace for both Japanese citizens andforeigners. Of the foreign respondents, 60% answered that “my recognition of peace
has been strengthened after coming to Hiroshima,” and this has reconfirmed for me
the power of my hometown. (Tsuchie)
I had an image that “peace in Hiroshima means the issue of the atomic bomb,”
but I now recognize that peace is a more diverse concept including such issues as
refugees, environmental problems, or bullying at schools that should be solved. I
would like to continue covering wider issues of peace, with future-oriented thinking.
(Mikoshi)●Q & AQ1 What role can women play?
Johnson: Peace movements need cooperation between peace organizations and governments, and women’s voices are needed to produce such cooperation. At the same time,
women should be more confident and speak out. The non-violence of feminism is not passive, it’s positive non-violence.
Q2 What are the responsibilities of private companies?
Kawasaki: A great deal of money is spent, not for the purpose of defense needs, but for the interests of large military industries, thus the development and deployment of missile
defense, for example, is promoted. We must create a mechanism to control the military-related projects of private business if we really want to make our country a truly peacefulnation.
Q3 What are the challenges for the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol?
Leeper: To get the support of all the people engaged in the anti-nuclear movement, and to implement a major campaign to make the name “Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol” known
world-wide.
Q4 What is your opinion regarding the US-India nuclear agreement?
Dhanapala: The agreement erodes the spirit of the NPT, has a negative impact on the UN resolution to impose sanctions on India which conducted nuclear tests in 1998, andbecomes a major obstacle to nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament.
Q5 What do you think about the contradiction involved in being under a nuclear umbrella while appealing for nuclear abolition?
Tashiro: Japanese citizens should, not out of a nationalism but from a global citizen’s point of view, change the thinking of Japanese politicians and make Japan take a leadership rolethat is appropriate for an A-bombed nation. For this purpose, individual citizens should highlight the dangers of nuclear war with courage and awareness.

Speeches, Reports, Presentations and Q&A: Summarized by Kazumi Mizumoto

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＜Reflections from Hiroshima: The 9th in a Series＞

Saburo Yamashita, Head of Hiroshima Prefecture Council of Social Welfare

The Former Mayor of Hatsukaichi
on Peace and Iwakuni
1. A-bomb experiences and unswerving
commitment to peace
I was A-bombed at Minami-Kan’on-cho’s
Hiroshima Machinery Works of Mitsubishi
Heavy Industries, around 3 to 3.5 kilometersfrom ground zero, where I had been mobilized
as a fourth year student of a junior high school
under the pre-war education system. It was mydaily practice to leave home in Hatsukaichi at
Saburo Yamashita
5:30 a.m., take a tram (on the Miyajima line)
for Koi, then walk for about 50-60 minutes to the factory. Beginningeach day at 7:30 a.m., more than 1,000 mobilized students were engaged
in labor together with around the same number of drafted Korean
workers who had been forced to come and work in Japan. On themorning of August 6, 1945, I was lifting products while operating aceiling crane at a can-manufacturing factory. All of a sudden theelectricity went out and the crane stopped running. Instantly there was adazzling flash of light tens of times stronger than a bolt of lightning.
When a deafening boom sounded, I immediately thought that the nearby
transformer substation had been bombed. In a panic, I climbed down aniron pole from the tall ceiling and rushed to an air-raid shelter.
There were relatively few wounded people among the workers in
the factory. However, I found hell on earth when I headed out of thefactory towards my home at a little after 10 a.m., following an orderwhich instructed us either to return home or to evacuate as “Hiroshima
City has become a blazing inferno caused by a new kind of bomb.” A
crowd of people were hovering around, almost all of them naked withscorched skin hanging off. Staring at hundreds, thousands of sufferers inblank bewilderment, I was unable to do anything. I somehow managed
to get myself back home to Hatsukaichi on foot.
Having been A-bombed in this way, I narrowly escaped death. As ahuman being, I came to realize that I must commit myself to work forpeace. As early as April 1954, I made the following remarks at the first
Hiroshima Convention of the Youth Oratorical Contest, which still
represent my unswerving view of peace:
The Japanese people, through acceptance of the Potsdam
Declaration, repented of the fact that a militarist Japan committed
the crime of resorting to war against humanity resulting in calamity
and misfortune, and then took the lead in international society byadopting a new constitution which avows total renunciation of war
and strives for universal, eternal peace. Thus Japan committed itself
to the Constitution which is both a national ideal and a credit to theworld. The reason why Japan accepted the Potsdam Declaration
was not merely because we were defeated militarily, but also
because we were convinced that war is an atrocity and is the mostdestructive force against humanity’s peace and happiness. The
reason why the Constitution avowedly renounced war is exactly
because it is an evil and international crime. We, the Japanesenation, swore to the world that as the last paragraph of the preamble
to the Constitution states, “We, the Japanese people, pledge ournational honor to accomplishing these high ideals and purposeswith all our resources.”
My political life has lasted for 52 years. I spent the first 36 years, or
10 terms altogether, serving as a member of various councils: I firstbecame a member of the village council of the former Miyauchi-mura,
Saeki County, when I was 25 years old, and subsequently became amember of the Hatsukaichi Town and then City Councils. After that, I
spent 16 years or four terms as the Mayor of Hatsukaichi from 1991,
during which time I have devoted myself consistently to running a

By Motofumi AsaiInterviewed on August 13, 2008

peace-related administration. Before elaborating on this peaceadministration, however, I would like to state briefly that I have also
worked towards improving public welfare while I was the mayor. The
city was the first in Hiroshima Prefecture to introduce a welfare-specificbus transportation system in 2001. It also took the lead among other
cities and towns in the Prefecture in providing free medical services forpre-school children. I, as the mayor, regarded it as most important to
respond to citizens’ requests as sincerely as possible, which I believe
was why I won their warm support.
In running the peace-related administration, I feel most proud of
having exercised a central role in organizing the National Council ofJapan’s Nuclear-Free Declaration for Local Authorities in August 1984.
The Council was established in Fuchu Town, Hiroshima Prefecture, andthe then mayor of the town, Mr. Kihei Yamada, became the firstpresident. Its website states:
The important mission of local authorities is to defend the lives andlivelihoods of individual residents from the crisis of humanannihilation caused by nuclear war and to contribute towards therealization of worldwide lasting peace for the present and future
generations. The member cities will make efforts, in cooperation
with each other, to appeal to and expand the circle of local
authorities around the world for the abolition of nuclear weapons
and the realization of permanent peace until the day a nuclear-freeworld is realized.
In this regard, the Council is organized by 243 local authorities as ofAugust 1, 2008, and strives for the realization of its mission throughvarious peace activities such as plenary meetings and training sessions.
Since April 2004 when the late mayor of Nagasaki, Mr. Iccho Ito,became the president, I became involved in the management of thecouncil as vice-president, and attended the NPT Review Conference in
2005, where I spoke about my A-bomb experience. This generated avery powerful reaction.
As a person who has been involved in the administration of peace
movements for many years, I cannot help but have serious concerns
about the movements’ present and future developments. In Japan an
ideological prejudice exists where the peace movement is seen as leftist
and peace is seen as Communism; this has hampered our efforts tobecome a genuine peace-oriented movement. Therefore, in order for the
movement to develop on a national scale, nationwide understanding andsupport is indispensable since locally-based efforts, such as my own,
have their limits.
Regarding Hiroshima, I think that the so-called “corrective
guidance” issued by the Education Ministry in 1998 has exerted aperverse influence on peace movements. Although the alleged main
purpose of the guidance was to apply pressure to anti-discrimination
education here, its influence has effectively extended to peace education
as well.
Nevertheless, I personally believe that peace-related reporting by
the mass media has had much to do with the endurance of peace
movements in Hiroshima. We cannot take lightly the importance of theincrease in peace-related media reports as the anniversary of August 6thnears each year. In other words, if the mass media did not report as muchas it actually presently does, peace movements would have exerted amuch more limited influence.
2. Relocation issue of American military base in Iwakuni
One of the major issues that I forcefully tackled as the Mayor of
Hatsukaichi was the problem surrounding the relocation of the American
military base in Iwakuni. The crux of the problem relates to the noise(Continued on Page 5)

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HIROSHIMA RESEARCH NEWS, Vol.11 No.2 November 2008

Iranian Ambassador’s
Ambassador s Visit to the HPI
By Motofumi Asai
Iran’s Ambassador to Japan, H.E. Dr. Seyed Abbas Araghchi,
visited Hiroshima on May 21 as his first destination outside
Tokyo since assuming his post, and spent the whole morning at
the HPI in discussion with me. The crux of his polite remarks wasto emphasize the fact that Iran has no intention at all of developing
nuclear weapons and that its exclusive intention is nothing but thepeaceful utilization of nuclear energy, following in the footstepsof Japan, which is the most advanced and developed country inthis field.
The Ambassador emphatically stated that, in order tounderstand clearly why Iran has chosen the path of developing
peaceful nuclear energy, it is necessary to look at the relevant
history. According to his account, Western countries, having
formerly been very supportive of Iran’s nuclear development,
suddenly reversed their positions following the Iranian Revolutionof 1978. Subsequently, the Iranian people could not help but
become distrustful, and therefore decided to go ahead with a selfreliant plan for nuclear energy development in the early 1980s.
The Ambassador emphasized that Iran is only exercising its
legitimate rights under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT):We are learning from Japan. Japan is a good example in thatit has developed advanced technology on its own to utilize
nuclear energy peacefully. Iran will never turn to develop
nuclear weapons. We have the experience of hundreds ofthousands of our people being victimized by chemical
weapons which Western countries supplied to Saddam
Hussein during the Iran-Iraq War. With such a history behindus, we can never embark on the development of nuclear
weapons. It is suicidal to have nuclear deterrence. Nuclear

weapons cannot be useful for anyone.
When I raised the question of North
Korea’s nuclear intentions, the Ambassador
was quick to state:
Iran cannot be compared with North
Korea. Iran has certain influence as aregional power. It also has abundant
oil and natural gas resources. The
Ambassador Araghchi
geopolitical conditions are also quite
different. Iran does not seek self-isolation. Supposing Iranwent nuclear, other Middle Eastern countries would follow
suit, inevitably inviting a nuclear arms race in the region.
I was deeply impressed by his candid remarks.
The Ambassador repeatedly emphasized that while Iran is
only following the path that Japan has pursued, the American
approach is nothing but a total double standard when it resorts tobrutal, suppressive measures against Iran, and that Iran will never
succumb to such responses. Whatever his subjective intentions
might be, the Ambassador’s remarks forced me to ponder thefollowing question: Has Japan really been a good example of thepeaceful use of nuclear energy? In other words, does Japan reallydeserve international trust with regard to its nuclear policy? I
ended my conversation with the Iranian Ambassador thinking that
the Iranian nuclear issue is nothing but a reflection of our own
problem.
Asai is president at HPI(From Page 4)

caused by the taking off and landing of carrier-based aircraft resulting
from the transfer of such flights to Iwakuni from Atsugi, where theresidents had resorted to legal means to stop the noise. If the relocation
were to materialize, it is crystal clear that the life of Iwankuni’s citizens
would be seriously affected. There were three important reasons that I
could not turn a blind eye to this issue: the possibility of further damage
to the World Heritage site at Miyajima, the image of Hiroshima as aninternational city of peace, and my support for the then Iwakuni Mayor
Mr. Katsusuke Ihara, who was firmly opposed to the relocation.
The first action I took was to organize the Alliance for
Implementation of Opposition to the NLP Relocation Plan at the
Iwakuni Base on July 19, 2005, composed of 10 members: the heads andspeakers of the three cities and two towns from the western part ofHiroshima Prefecture (Hatsukaichi, Ohtake, Etajima, Ohno andMiyajima) which would be seriously affected by the relocation. I
willingly accepted the position of president of this alliance. Its original
purpose was to initiate an organized movement in close cooperation withthe relevant bodies in Yamaguchi Prefecture. However, considering it
necessary to involve the whole of Hiroshima Prefecture in the
movement, I took the initiative in August of the same year to organize
the Liaison Conference of Hiroshima Prefecture to Oppose theReinforcement Plan of the Iwakuni Base. This was composed of not only
the above-mentioned cities and towns, as well as the cities of Hiroshima
and Miyoshi (the latter being affected by American fighter plane flight
exercises carried out at low altitude), but also such partners as the

HIROSHIMA RESEARCH NEWS, Vol.11 No.2 November 2008

Hiroshima branch of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (JTUC)
and the Meeting of Residents of the Western Part of Hiroshima Prefecture
to Oppose the Enlargement and Reinforcement of the Iwakuni Base.
The Liaison Conference has been active ever since. On March 21,
2006, we adopted a resolution to demand revocation of the relocation
plan for US carrier-based aircraft. In May of the same year, I made a visit
to the Iwakuni Mayor, Mr. Ihara, on which occasion I stated our intention
to maintain coordination across prefectural borders and to demand thatthe central government withdraw the reinforcement plan. Mr. Ihara
responded by pointing out that this issue will affect the whole of Hiroshima
Bay and so we promised mutual cooperation. On July 15, 2006, we also
held a symposium at the cultural hall of Hatsukaichi to discuss thereinforcement of the Iwakuni Base at which the Mayor of Ohtake, Mr.
Yoshiro Iriyama who had been elected in May of that year, read aloud a
draft of an urgent appeal which was then adopted unanimously.
The future prospects for this issue are uncertain, considering suchfactors as changes in the city of Ohtake’s policy in favor of the relocation
plan, the defeat of Mr. Ihara in the recent election for the Iwakuni Mayorand my own retirement from the city of Hatsukaichi’s administration.
Although I understand that Mr. Ihara is determined to make a politicalcomeback, the outcome of the next election there will be largely
influenced by the dominant political tide at the time. I myself willcontinue my long-sustained fight in the role of a citizen.

−5−Asai is president at HPIVisit HPI’s website at http://serv.peace.hiroshima-cu.ac.jp/English/index.htm

HPI’s Lecture Series for Citizens of Hiroshima

Confronting the A-Bomb Experiences:
What the Genbaku no E (Paintings/Drawings of A-Bombing) Convey
This was the ninth in the Public Lecture Series which started seven years
ago in fiscal 2002. The series was initially an annual event consisting ofaround 10 lectures, but it has been held semi-annually (once each semester)since fiscal 2006, with five lectures per series, a format that continues up
until the present. The most recent five-part lecture series entitled“Confronting the A-Bomb Experiences: What the Genbaku no E (paintingsand drawings of the atomic bombing) Convey,” was held from June 6 toJuly 4, 2008, at the Hiroshima City Plaza for Town Development throughCitizen Exchange.
It has been 63 years since the first atomic bomb in history exploded
over Hiroshima City, instantly taking the lives of countless citizens. During
the Peace Memorial Ceremony held on August 6, 2008, two new registerbooks containing the names of fallen atomic bomb victims were added to
the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims, bringing the total number of Abomb victims to 258,310. The average age of A-bomb survivors is now
over 75 and recent surveys plainly show that, as with the hibakusha’s age,memories of the A-bomb are fading, even in Hiroshima.
A-bomb experiences are multifaceted and complex, hardly conforming
to a single standard image. The total extent of A-bomb damage―exactly
what happened beneath the mushroom cloud and how that continues toaffect each hibakusha―is still far from self-evident. The program for thislecture series was formulated in the hope that it might encourage a deeper
understanding of the terror of nuclear warfare by confronting thecomplexity and horror of A-bomb experiences. The lectures introduced
material related to A-bomb experiences and examined how such material
has been handed down, with a focus on the emotional wounds suffered byhibakusha, an issue which has long been neglected in discussions about Abomb damage. Experiences of Holocaust survivors who faced the horror of
genocide were also discussed from a point of view of international
comparison.
The lecture series was attended by some 140 participants, well beyond
the intended capacity, and the popularity of the lectures reflected strong
civic interest in A-bomb issues and the search for ways to convey
Hiroshima’s message. According to the participant survey conductedfollowing the fifth lecture, in response to the question “Has yourunderstanding of peace issue improved?”, 49% answered “very much” and
36% answered “to some degree.” This reveals that in total 85% of the
respondents improved their understanding.
June 6, 2008
“The A-Bomb Experiences: Their Meaning and Legacy”
Kazumi Mizumoto, Associate Professor at HPIProf. Mizumoto’s lecture opened with an attempt to clearly define themeaning of the A-bomb experiences. He then examined the history andnature of communication of the A-bomb experiences from various angles,
including peace movements, firsthand written accounts, literature, music,
and the Peace Declarations made by the successive Hiroshima Mayors.
Prof. Mizumoto, who sees the A-bomb experiences as “firsthand, wartime
experiences of the danger of nuclear weapons,” cited four components of
the “danger of nuclear weapons”: 1) indiscriminate mass murder ofnoncombatants as evidenced by the overwhelming death rate; 2) the uniquenature of their destructive force, where heat, blast and radiation are emitted
simultaneously; 3) medical consequences, where gene mutations are causedby radiation; and 4) psychological consequences, where survivors aretraumatized for many decades. He argued that the role of the A-bombed
cities and the future generations is to continue probing into the hazards ofatomic and nuclear weapons, and to disseminate findings globally using
multiple means, while at the same time paying attention to and caring about
the many tragic incidents experienced in other parts of the world.
June 15, 2008
“Looking at the Emotional Wounds of the Hibakusha: A Psychiatrist’s View”
Masao Nakazawa, Psychiatrist, Yoyogi Hospital

Emotional wounds suffered by hibakusha was the lecture topic of Dr.
Nakazawa, the author of Hibakusha no kokoro no kizu wo otte (Iwanami
Shoten, 2007). According to Dr. Nakazawa, trauma identified in hibakusha
takes the following forms: 1) lapses in memory and disruptions of temporalsequence; 2) a sense of remorse or guilt (based on the experiences of having
had to walk away from someone who was in need of help, for instance); and3) being “carried back” to “that day” (when one was exposed to the Abomb), triggered by the slightest cues during everyday life. Phenomenon 3)
shares the same psychological mechanism as that of flashbacks in PTSD
(post traumatic stress disorder), but is distinct in the sense that the “painful
experiences” are recalled persistently due to the fact that many hibakusha
also subsequently suffer aftereffects of radiation such as cancer or
leukemia. Dr. Nakazawa suggested “telling others” as a possible remedy
and pointed out that an important key for this would be having “places andpeople conducive to telling.” In this year’s Peace Declaration, Mayor

Visit HPI’s website at http://serv.peace.hiroshima-cu.ac.jp/English/index.htm

Tadatoshi Akiba declared that the City of Hiroshima will initiate a two-year
scientific study of the psychological impact of the A-bomb experiences.
June 20, 2008
“In the Wake of an Unprecedented Atrocity: The HolocaustExperiences, Restitution and the Emotional Issues of Survivors”
Hiromi Igari, Ph.D. Candidate, The University of Tokyo Graduate School

The Holocaust refers to the genocide of the Jewish people by theGerman Nazi regime which resulted in approximately six million deaths. In
the concentration camps the Jewish people experienced a desperate state ofconfinement, with no prospect for release, under forced, pointless labor,
where they were treated as “beings unworthy of living.” What is less known
in relation to this is that an extremely harsh life awaited those who managed
to return alive from the camps as they were frequently subjected towrongful prejudice that they, having been interned, must have been
“criminals.” Many Holocaust survivors faced the dilemma of yearning toshare their experiences on the one hand and being unable to verbalize it on
the other because of the sheer extent of the atrocities they experienced. In
other words, they wanted to tell what had happened to them but were unable
to. Survivors’ memoirs often reveal remorse over having survived without,for instance, having done enough to save others. However, the emotional
scars of Holocaust survivors took a long time to be recognized. Ms. Igari
pointed out that when the postwar (West) German government began toprovide compensation to victims of the Nazis based on the 1956 Federal
Indemnification Law (known as BEG), the survivors’ emotional wounds
did not receive sufficient consideration in settling compensation claims.
June 27, 2008
“The Collection, Storage and Display of Genbaku no E and Material
Related to the Atomic Bombing”
Shoji Oseto, Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum

The lecture gave an outline of the history and layout of the Hiroshima
Peace Memorial Museum which opened in 1955 and is housed in a building
complex designed by Kenzo Tange. This was followed by an overview ofthe museum’s holdings. Mr. Oseto explained that as of the end of March
2008, the museum’s collection contained 19,000 articles and items ofmaterial related to the atomic bombing and its victims. According to Mr.
Oseto, the museum also holds a collection of approximately 3,600“Genbaku no E” created by hibakusha. The pictures were collected as aresult of calls for submissions made during 1974 and 1975, and again in
2002. (1,246 works were included in an illustrated book published by
Iwanami Shoten in 2007, under the title Zuroku Genbaku no E―
Hiroshima wo tsutaeru.) The lecture introduced the audience to themuseum’s permanent and special exhibitions, A-bomb exhibitions held
overseas, and also gave a detailed explanation of how resources such as thepeace database are utilized and how material is stored and conserved. Mr.
Oseto’s lecture provided a valuable opportunity to learn about the daily
workings of the Peace Memorial Museum which carries the mission ofcommunicating the A-bomb experiences to the world.
July 4, 2008
“An Intimate Look at the Genbaku no E: Contemplating the Thoughts
They Contain”
Akiko Naono, Associate Professor, Kyushu University Graduate School

There is an enormous accumulation of testimonies and records of Abomb experiences in the public record, but according to Dr. Naono, themajority of hibakusha have never spoken about their experiences. Reasonsfor their silence include social prejudice and discrimination against
hibakusha, and a sense of guilt about having survived. A feeling that what
was experienced “that day” was so overwhelming and harrowing that it
defied verbalization and a sense of resignation that no one would everbelieve their stories also made hibakusha reticent. Dr. Naono compiled abook entitled Genbaku no E to deau (Iwanami Shoten, 2004) which is basedon interviews conducted with 50 Genbaku no E authors. Introducing
several examples of Genbaku no E along with their authors’ thoughts, Dr.
Naono detailed how memories of the atomic bombing have existed, andemphasized the importance of having a sympathetic listener to whom
hibakusha can entrust what they feel deep down. In connection with Dr.
Naono’s lecture, it is worth noting that in recent years there have been
attempts by the younger generation to inherit and pass on the A-bomb
experiences. These include programs at Hiroshima City University’s
Faculty of Art and Hiroshima Municipal Motomachi Senior High School’s
Course of Creative Expression in which students create artworks of Abomb experiences based on interviews conducted with hibakusha, as wellas portraying hibakusha themselves.

−6−

By Hitoshi Nagai, assistant professor at HPIHIROSHIMA RESEARCH NEWS, Vol.11 No.2 November 2008

HPI Research Forums
Title: Film as a Tool to Transmit the Storyof Survival: The Last Atomic Bomb

Title: Opposition to the Wars in Vietnam and
Iraq: Differences in Movement Size,
Visibility, and Impact

Date: May 14, 2008

Date: July 16, 2008

Speaker: Dr. Kathleen Sullivan,

Speaker: Professor Paul Joseph,

Disarmament Educator andAnti-nuclear Specialist

Professor of Tufts University, US,
Chair of Sociology / Anthropology
Department

Kathleen Sullivan, Ph.D., is a disarmament educator and nuclear abolition
activist. She is currently an education consultant to the United Nations
Office for Disarmament Affairs, writing lesson plans about disarmament
for the UN’s Cyberschoolbus website (see www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/dnp/). For six years she worked with young people as a peace educator in
New York City public high schools. Dr. Sulllivan produced the film The
Last Atomic Bomb with veteran documentary filmmaker Robert Richter.
After the screening of The Last Atomic Bomb, she spoke about theimportance of disarmament education and how the story of the hibakusha
is a narrative of inspiration and action for a nuclear free world.
The Last Atomic Bomb was released in 2005, 60 years after the
dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Using footage
from the US Strategic Bombing Survey which filmed medical scenes ofhibakusha, the documentary follows Ms. Sakue Shimohira, a hibakushafrom Nagasaki, who traveled to the United States, the United Kingdom,and France with university students from Hiroshima and Nagasaki todeliver a letter which demanded the abolition of nuclear weapons to thegovernments of these nuclear powers.
Dr. Sullivan emphasized the power of film as a medium ofcommunication:
Film and photography have the power to make us witnesses to the past inreal time. Using film in the classroom can accomplish many extraordinary
things. Facts are given color and greater meaning. Emotions are brought
to the fore. Visual language is imprinted on everyday experience. Livescan be transformed through exposure to an image.
She further explained:
The Last Atomic Bomb bears witness to the terror of Nagasaki in
1945. It portrays today’s nuclear proliferation, seen through the tragic
yet inspirational life of the hibakusha, the survivors of the atomic
bomb. The feature documentary interweaves the hibakusha narrativewith the US decision to use the bomb, censorship, discrimination
against survivors, and college students who are determined to makesure their story is never forgotten.
The film also shows the faces of high school students who see footageof tragic scenes of hibakusha and hear the testimony of one hibakusha (Ms.
Shimohira) for the first time. The students were clearly moved by both thefilm and the testimony. One can be sure that this scene will recur amongpeople who will watch The Last Atomic Bomb in the future.
Many young citizens participated in the HPI forum and actively
discussed various issues with Dr. Sullivan. She is devoting considerable
energy to pass on the message of the inhumanity of war and nuclear
weapons by appealing both to people’s intelligence and emotion,
irrespective of generation and nationality. I think that all the participants
could sense her gentle power through the activity of challenging thearrogant nuclear powers.
By Hiroko Takahashi, assistant professor at HPIMany journalists and academics have focused on the differences
between mass mobilization in the United States against the Vietnam
War and the current military occupation of Iraq. Most of thesecommentaries have contrasted the presumed effectiveness of theVietnam era opposition with the relative lack of influence of the
movement that tried first to stop Operation Iraqi Freedom and later toforce the Pentagon to withdraw from Iraq. In this Research Forum,
Professor Joseph offered a systematic comparison of the two
movements, focusing on similarities as well as differences, analyzing
a number of important factors. The following are some of the factors
elaborated upon by Professor Joseph.
* In broad terms, the public is just as opposed to the Iraq War (i.e. they
believe it was a mistake to start with and decry the President’s
handling of the conflict) as they were to the Vietnam War. The
public effectively voted to end the war in Iraq in the 2006
congressional election.
* Draft then, no draft now; the social contract in the US no longer
contains the expectation that the public as a whole will be asked tofight.
* It was possible during the Vietnam War era for the peace movement
to argue that the other side were the “good guys”: this is impossible
now since the National Liberation Front and al Qaida are not thesame; the Vietnam antiwar movement could meet with theVietnamese in Paris and elsewhere in good faith. This would be
impossible to consider now.
* Synergy with other visible movements during the 1960s, including
civil rights, black power, the student movement, and the women’sand environmental movements. The sense of hope and effectivenessof social movement opposition is weaker now, with the possible
exception of opposition to market-driven globalization.
* The year 1968 represented an international political and cultural
crisis which carried significant emotional and political weight.
Vietnam stood at the core of that crisis and forced people aroundthe world to respond.
* Media differences are also important: not only the shift from themore explicit battle-ground feel of the “living-room war” during
Vietnam to the more sanitized presentation of “embedded
reporting,” but also in the very visibility of antiwar opposition itself.
Opposition movement activities, both national and local, werecovered very thoroughly during the Vietnam War era but are largely
ignored now.
* 9/11 and the current politics of fear, although a politics of fear did
exist during the Cold War.
* There is a significant cultural difference between the two eras,
particularly in the contrast between the high social expectations of
the 1960s versus many people’s more private pursuits today.
Due to the parallels obtained in contrasting the Japanese antiwar
and peace movements of the 1960s with those of today, Professor
Joseph received many thought-provoking questions and commentsfrom his audience.
By Yuki Tanaka, professor at HPIHIROSHIMA RESEARCH NEWS, Vol.11 No.2 November 2008

−7−

Visit HPI’s website at http://serv.peace.hiroshima-cu.ac.jp/English/index.htm

July 1, 2008-October 31, 2008
Kwangju,” at Korean International Political Science Association Annual
Meetings in Sokcho, Korea.
◆Aug. 23 Asai gives lecture on “Looking towards Hiroshima, and Looking
from Hiroshima” at 2nd Basic Course organized by Hiroshima Chapter of Japan
Congress of Journalists.
◆Aug. 25 Mikyoung Kim holds meetings with faculty members of Graduate
Institute of Peace Studies, Kyunghee University in Seoul, Korea.▽Takahashi
gives lecture on “Regulation on the Report of the Atomic Bomb and Global
Hibakusha” at JICA overseas student seminar at HPI.
◆Aug. 28-31 Mikyoung Kim attends and presents paper, “History Textbook
Controversies in Northeast Asia,” and serves as panelist on “The Politics ofHistory in East Asia” at American Political Science Annual Meetings in Boston,
MA, US.
◆Sep. 1 Mikyoung Kim holds meetings with Northeast Asia specialists at
United States Institute for Peace in Washington, D.C., US. ▽Takahashi speaks
on “Civil Defense Program in Japan, US Military Bases and Sexual Violence” atsymposium organized by H8 Group at Hiroshima Women Study Institute.
◆Sep. 2-7 Mikyoung Kim holds meetings at US Department of State, Brookings
Institution, and Georgetown University.
◆Sep. 4 Takahashi speaks on “Connecting Classified Hiroshima and Nagasaki
to Bikini” at celebration of foundation of Association of Book Shelves for Peacein Tokyo.
◆Sep. 5-19 Takahashi conducts research for “War and Peace” project ofGraduate University for Advanced Studies at National Archives and Universityof Wisconsin, US.
◆Sep. 8 Mikyoung Kim delivers lecture on “Culturally Embedded Memory” atSigur Center at George Washington University, in Washington, D.C., US.
◆Sep. 12 Mizumoto gives lecture on “Hiroshima and Peace” to students ofFaculty of Law, Hitotsubashi University, at HPI.
◆Sep. 13 Asai gives lecture entitled “On Disability” at lecture meetingorganized by NPO Citizens Forum in Himeji.
◆Sep. 16 Mizumoto attends 2nd meeting of sub-committee of Basic Planning
Committee on Exhibition and Maintenance of Hiroshima Peace Memorial
Museum.
◆Sep. 20-23 Tanaka participates in European Association of Japanese Studies
Conference held in Italy and presents paper entitled “War and Peace as Illustratedby Tezuka Osamu: His Humanism in Story Manga.”◆Sep. 21 Akihiro Kawakami gives lecture on “Article 9 of the Constitution ofJapan and Local Self-Governance” in symposium organized by Amagasaki NonDefended Localities Forum (NGO) in Hyogo.
◆Oct. 2 Asai participates in meeting on “War and Human Rights” at 51st
Human Rights Protection Symposium held in Toyama organized by Japan
Federation of Bar Associations.
◆Oct. 2-6 Ganesan hosts international workshop “Bilateralism versus
Multilateralism in Southeast Asia” as part of HPI Research Project and presents
paper on “Thai-Malaysian Bilateral Relations” in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
◆Oct. 13-25 Tanaka conducts seminars and public lecture for postgraduate
students at Birkbeck College, University of London.
◆Oct. 18 Asai gives lecture on “The Peace Constitution and the Possibility of
A9A” at lecture meeting organized by Hatsukaichi A9A, held in Hiroshima.
◆Oct. 31 Asai gives lecture entitled “On US Strategy and Japan’s Destination”
at Autumn Gathering commemorating enforcement of the Constitution organizedby the Kyoto Organization for Prevention of Constitutional Amendments.▽
Jacobs presents paper entitled “Alone in the Flash: Duck and Cover and Atomic
Alert” at Film and History Conference in Chicago, US.

◆Jul. 10 HPI President Motofumi Asai gives lecture on “Peace and Welfare” atHigashikurume Wakakusa Gakuen, Tokyo.
◆Jul. 12 Asai gives lecture on “Article 9 and International Society” to Tokyo
metropolitan high schools’ Article 9 Association (A9A).
◆Jun. 26-Jul. 12 Narayanan Ganesan, as member of an international academic
team, trains Yangon University lecturers and Myanmar public officials on
Southeast Asian international relations and public policy in Yangon, Myanmar.
◆Jul. 16 Asai participates in 14th Hiroshima Local Liaison Council Meeting ofRadiation Effects Research Foundation.
◆Jul. 18-19 Yuki Tanaka attends workshop for HPI Research Project “AComprehensive Historical Analysis of Anti-Nuclear and Peace Movements in
Hiroshima: 1945-1960” held at HPI.
◆Jul. 20 Hiroko Takahashi speaks on “Classified Hiroshima and Nagasaki” at
Global Hibakusha Study Meeting, Tokyo.
◆Jul. 24 Kazumi Mizumoto gives lecture on “Current World Situation of
Nuclear Weapons and Hiroshima” at Hiroshima International University in
Higashihiroshima.
◆Jul. 25 Mizumoto and Takahashi attend 2nd meeting of Basic Planning
Committee on Exhibition and Maintenance of Hiroshima Peace Memorial
Museum.
◆Jul. 26 Mizumoto gives lecture on “How Should We Link the Atomic
Bombing Experience with World Peace?” and guides group discussions at
meeting of Hiroshima Peace Forum organized by Hiroshima Peace Culture
Foundation.
◆Jul. 28 Asai gives lecture on “Domestic/International Situations and Article
9” at Summer Marathon Seminar in Hiroshima.▽Asai attends Radiation
Disease-Related Medical Care Facilities Forum organized by Hiroshima
Prefectural Medical Association.
◆Jul. 29 Mizumoto gives lecture on “Hiroshima and Peace” to journalists,organized by Hiroshima City.
◆Aug. 2 HPI and Chugoku Shimbun co-sponsor international symposium,“Approaching Nuclear Abolition from Hiroshima,” held in Hiroshima.
◆Aug. 4 Tanaka gives lecture entitled “The Criminality of the Atomic
Bombing” at HPI to students from American University and Ritsumeikan
University.▽Mizumoto gives lecture on “Hiroshima and Peace” and Mikyoung
Kim on “Culturally Embedded Memory: A Comparative Study of Japan’s
Hiroshima and Korea’s Kwangju” at Peace Seminar of Hiroshima Jogakuin
University and Bowling Green State University, US, held in Hiroshima.▽
Takahashi comments on Bikini Test in 1954 at Global Hibakusha Study Meeting
held at HPI.
◆Aug. 5 Asai gives lecture on “Hiroshima as a Vanguard for Peace” at 22nd
Metropolitan Senior High School Teachers’ Union Peace Rally organized by
Hiroshima Private High School Teachers’ Union. ▽Takahashi speaks on“Hidden Hibakusha and Reports on the Atomic Bomb during the Occupation
Era” at 2008 Mass Media Information & Culture Union Hiroshima Forum.
◆Aug. 6 Robert Jacobs presents lecture, “Atomic Bombs in America,” at Peace
Seminar of Hiroshima Jogakuin University and Bowling Green State University,
US, held in Hiroshima.
◆Aug. 7 Mizumoto organizes and leads Peace Seminar held at HPI for Komaba
Senior High School Attached to Tsukuba University and Hiroshima Jogakuin
Senior High School.
◆Aug. 11-12 Ganesan presents paper, “Malaysia-China Relations,” and Sung
Chull Kim presents paper, “North Korea: From Alignment with China to Active
Independence,” at workshop “East Asia Facing a Rising China” sponsored by theEast Asian Institute, Singapore, and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung held at
National University of Singapore.
◆Aug. 16 Takahashi speaks on “Classified Hiroshima and Nagasaki” at public
meeting in Kudamatsu, Yamaguchi.
◆Aug. 18-19 Mikyoung Kim collects data on North Korean refugees in Seoul,
Korea.
◆Aug. 21 Mizumoto gives lecture entitled “From Hiroshima to Cambodia:
Reconstruction from Atomic Bombing and Contribution to Peace Building” at
Sophia Asia Center for Research and Human Development in Siem Reap,
Cambodia.
◆Aug. 21-23 Mikyoung Kim presents paper, “Japan’s Hiroshima and Korea’s−Visitors to HPI−
◆Aug. 4 Peter Kuznick, professor at American University; Atsushi Fujioka,
professor at Ritsumeikan University, and 30 students.
◆Aug. 7 Arata Ohno, teacher at Komaba Senior High School Attached to
Tsukuba University, with his 9 students and 5 students from Hiroshima Jogakuin
Senior High School.
◆Sep. 12 Nobumasa Akiyama, associate professor at Faculty of Law,
Hitotsubashi University, and 6 students.

HIROSHIMA RESEARCH NEWS

Vol. 11, No. 2 (November 28, 2008)
Copyright 2008 HPI, All rights reserved

Published by Hiroshima Peace Institute, Hiroshima City University (Editors: Yukiko Yoshihara and Yuko Takahashi)
Ote-machi Heiwa Bldg. F9/10, 4-1-1 Ote-machi, Naka-ku, Hiroshima 730-0051, Japan
Phone: +81 82 544 7570
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Visit HPI’s website at http://serv.peace.hiroshima-cu.ac.jp/English/index.htm−8−

HIROSHIMA RESEARCH NEWS, Vol.11 No.2 November 2008