Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation

June 2022

PEACE
CULTURE

vol.1 No.87 (semiannual)

Various events during the Month for a Culture of Peace!
The entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of
Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) on January 22, 2021 marked
a new start towards the realization of a world without nuclear weapons. However, in the current international situation that emphasizes the pursuit of national interests,
unfortunately we are far from freeing ourselves from thenuclear deterrence theory held by policymakers. Against
this backdrop, it is becoming increasingly necessary tocreate a social situation in which the abolition of nuclear
weapons, which symbolize the violent nature of humanbeings, becomes the consensus of civil society and encourages a change in policy. To achieve this, it is important to create a “culture of peace” in civil society, in otherwords, a situation in which each citizen thinks and acts
about peace in his or her daily life, and in which there isno justification for violence of any kind, including war,
conflict, discrimination, and prejudice.
With this in mind, from 2021 the City of Hiroshima has
designated November of every year as the Month for a
Culture of Peace, and this Foundation, in cooperation with
the City of Hiroshima, has held various events during thisperiod to promote culture that leads to a shared desire forpeace. Many people participated in the events, renewing
their commitment to peace.
At each event during the period, wewore yellow-green PR ribbons, ourimage color, and displayed our logo
to promote the “Culture of Peace”
and encourage support for this initiaThe Month for a Cultive.
ture of Peace logo

Peace Culture Lecture (November 1)bright and wonderful smile, greatly touched the heartsof the audience, and the venue was wrapped in a warm
circle of emotion. Ms. Sahel’s story, which expressed her
sympathy and support for initiatives for the Month for a
Culture of Peace, spoke to the spirit of Hiroshima desiring
for peace and the spirit of peace culture, making it a fitting
opening event for the Month.

As the opening event of the Month, we welcomed actor
Ms. Sahel Rosa to give a lecture on the topic of “Encounters with people gave me the strength to live.”
Ms. Sahel has been active as an actor in film, stage, andtelevision, and also as a goodwill ambassador for the international human rights NGO A Home for Every Child.
She was born in Iran, grew up in an orphanage until theage of four, met her adoptive mother and came to Japan at
the age of eight, and has since experienced a difficult andchallenging life.
In the midst of all this, Ms. Sahel related many heartwarming episodes that gave her the opportunity to live
positively through encounters with various people, andthey made the audience think deeply about their own way
of being and how
they relate to others.
After overcoming
her painful past,
Ms. Sahel’s many
positive
messages, spoken with a
Ms. Sahel Rosa giving her lecture

Citizens’ Peace Culture Event:Connecting Thoughts on Peace to the
Future (November 3)
The Citizens’ Peace Culture Event: Connecting Thoughts
on Peace to the Future was held at the International Conference Center’s Large Conference Room Dahlia. Tengroups of young people and citizens who are engaged inpeace activities in Hiroshima presented their daily activities and thoughts on peace through stage presentations
and exhibits.
Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui opened the event bysaying, “This event, where we share our thoughts on peace
through the presentation of artistic and cultural activities
such as music and art, is truly an event that will instill a‘culture of peace’, and I am pleased that so many citizens
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are participating.”

Dome was also given to deepen interaction with the audience.

<Stage Presentations>
Four groups gave presentations on their initiatives, communicating a message of peace. All of the presentations
were excellent, bringing the presenters and the audience
together to rethink the importance of peace.

◇ Creative Play for Peace: I PRAY
As the last of
the stage presentations, a creative
play for peace was
performed, whichpowerfully depicted the process of Performance of Creative Play for Peace: I
reconstruction after PRAY
the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima for the firsttime in human history. The performance was performedby 17 people, including children from 4 years old to elementary and junior high school students and adults, andthe audience was filled with emotion as they prayed thatthe tragedy of the use of nuclear weapons would never be
repeated.

◇ Suginamidai Preschool: musical play “Here comesthe elephant train”
This work was based on a picture book of the true storyof children from all over Japan taking a special train to
the Higashiyama Zoo in Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture,
where two elephants that survived World War II are kept.
The children sang and danced adorably in this musicalplay performed by a local ocarina group.
Mr. Takashi Koide, the author of the picture book, came tothe venue to watch
the children’s performance, and at
the end, he and themayor of Hiroshima joined the children on stage toChildren who performed in the musical celebrate the finale
play, together with Mayor Matsui and thetogether.
author Mr. Koide.

<Exhibits>
Six groups presented exhibits on the results of their daily
activities and their thoughts on peace.
There was also a corner at the venue where children
could draw pictures on paper recycled from Orizuru
paper cranes and have them made into badges to takehome as souvenirs, and a hands-on corner wherevisitors could write messages of peace on pigeon-shaped
stickers and paste them. These were ways that visitors
could express their thoughts on peace through their own
creations. There was also an information corner withflyers of various events for
the Month for a
Culture of Peace
to promote themonth’s events.
Exhibits of participating groups◇ Senda Pan Flute Choir
This was a performance and chorusof pan flutes madefrom the A-bombed
tree Kaizukaibuki(Dragon Juniper)that used to grow in
Pan flute performance by the Senda Pan Senda Elementary
Flute Choir
School in Hiroshima City. The last song, Soreyuke Carp, a fight song of theHiroshima Toyo Carp baseball team, stirred the audience
to clap their hands, and the choir and the audience enjoyedtheir time together.

◇ Hiroshima City University Peace Activity Club S2
The club members introduced their activities, as well as
holding a hands-on workshop where participants folded
paper cranes the same size as those folded by Sadako Sasaki. Many small origami cranes were made by visitorswith their thoughts for peace.

◇ Chugoku Shimbun newspaper junior writers
In addition to introducing their own activities, the members spoke about
their thoughts onpeace and madeproposals
about
what young people
can do for peace.
A quiz related to
Presentation by Chugoku Shimbun newsthe Atomic Bomb
paper junior writers◇ Peace and Art and Music with Daruma Doll Project
On display were more than one hundred daruma dolls,
a traditional craft of Fukushima, painted with various
messages, as well as daruma dolls created by Hiroshima
Mayor Matsui and famous cartoonists. Many visitors took
pictures and looked intently at the displays.

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mation at the hands-on corner. It was a day where participants and visitors could experience the “culture of peace”
through artistic and cultural activities.
By participating in this event, the young generation who
are working for peace were able to interact with each other, and there were warm words of support for their efforts,
making it an opportunity for participants and visitors aliketo renew their commitment to peace.

◇ Hiroshima Municipal Hiroshima Commercial HighSchool “Peace Department Store”
This exhibit introduced the “Peace Department Store”
of Hiroshima Commercial High School, and the exchange
activities with its sister school, Nagasaki Municipal Nagasaki Commercial High School, through their joint peacedeclaration, Hiroshima-Nagasaki “Peace Bell” project,and jointly developed products. Small children who cameto the event also rang the peace bell, and the sound of thebell echoed throughout the venue from time to time.

Online event: A-bomb Piano Concert:
An investigation of peace playing an
A-bombed piano (available online from
November 13)◇ Hiroshima Nagisa Junior and Senior High School
International Division
In addition to the “Small Prayers Shadow Play Exhibition”, the International Club members introduced theirpast activities and shadow plays, which drew the visitors
into the fantastic world of shadow plays.

There are many forms of peace culture, and music expressed with a wish for peace is one of them. In order toencourage people to think about peace through familiarmusic, the A-bomb Piano Concert, in which musicians
associated with Hiroshima perform in memory of the
A-bomb victims, has been available online since November 13, and has been viewed by more than 870 people so
far.
The A-bombed piano used in the concert was the one that
Ms. Akiko Kawamoto loved to play,which is on display
on the second floor Shiho Nakagawa (right) and Ayako Yoshikawa (left) performing “Sunset”
of the Rest House
in Peace Memorial Park. Akiko was
19 years old when
she was exposed tothe atomic bomb
while working as aMr. Obayashi (left), Ms. Nikaido (center),
mobilized student, and Ms. Jiang (right) performing “One Penand she died on Au- cil”
gust 7, the day after the atomic bombing. The piano isstill pierced with fragments of glass that were scatteredby the blast of the atomic bomb, and with its beautiful sound, it conveys to us the tragedy of the atomic
bombing.
At the concert, “Farewell Song”, one of Akiko’s favorite Chopin pieces, was performed by erhu Chinese violin player Jiang Xiaoyan from Dalian, China, and pianist
Masakazu Shintaku. Other performances included “Sunset” by soprano Shiho Nakagawa and pianist Ayako Yoshikawa, “Go Up Hiroshima” by Hiroshima-born New
York-based jazz pianist Takeshi Obayashi, and “Memoryof Life” by singer-songwriter Kazumi Nikaido, who lives
in Otake City, Hiroshima. In addition, Mr. Obayashi, Ms.
Nikaido, and Ms. Jiang performed “One Pencil”, express-◇ Hiroshima Municipal Hiroshima Technical HighSchool, Department of Mechanical Engineering
There was a demonstration and workshop on copper
plate paper crane making. There was an exhibition of the
production process and a hands-on corner where participants could actually make copper plate origami cranes.
Many children made copper plate cranes as they received
guidance from the mechanical engineering students.
◇ Holocaust Memorial Hall: Small Hands
This exhibit introduced the activities of the memorial
hall and the children’s volunteer group “Small Hands”,
which has been active for 24 years. Also on display for the
first time in the city of Hiroshima were children’s inmate
uniforms (actual items) used in concentration camps andAnne Frank’s roses grafted by the children of the group.
Visitors stopped to listen intently to the explanation.
<Messages from Visitors>
Many visitors left messages at the message corner.
・“May the world be free of nuclear weapons! May everyone in the world lives with a smile.”・“I wish for a time when people all over the world canforget their tears and smile every day.”・“I wish for a world where everyone can live with a kindheart...”
About 300 people visited theevent site towatch the stage
presentations andto interact andexchange infor-

Peace messages

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ing their thoughts on peace to the sounds of the A-bombed
piano.

shima Prefecture high school broadcasting clubs based on
the stories of the hibakusha and bereaved family members. In addition, reading volunteers from the Hiroshima
National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims and a reading group from Nagasaki City also participated in the event. In addition, performing readings ofHiroshima and Nagasaki A-bomb testimonies and a recitation play.
Visitors left comments such as “It was good to see peopleof all ages, including high school students, participating in
the event,” and “the variety of the performances provided
a valuable opportunity to think about peace.” The event
became an opportunity for the performers and visitors toshare their thoughts of the hibakusha of Hiroshima andNagasaki and renew their commitment to peace.

PEACE Kids Campus (November 14)
An art workshop was held for children to think about theimportance of peace.
Twenty-five children between the ages of 3 and 12
and their parents participated in the event. Afterwatching a peace education animation, the participants
made an A-bomb Dome art creation out of paper clay
using recycled paper cranes. Under the guidance of Professor Shoji Morinaga of Hiroshima City University’s
Faculty of Art, parents and children worked together tocreate their own A-bomb domes by making a framework
for the dome part with colorful braid and then freely attaching the walls with paper clay made from recycled paper cranes.
At the end, everyone illuminated theirart creations andcheered at the glittering work.
The children who Participating children and Professor Moriparticipated in the naga holding their completed works
event said, “It was fun. I will come again.” From theparents, we received messages such as, “I hope the peaceful time of making crafts with children will continue forever.”It was an opportunity for parents and children to think
about the importance of peace together through watchingpeace education animations and creating art objects.

Hiroshima Peace Forum: screening of film
“The Vow from Hiroshima” (November 27)
As the closing event of the Month for a Culture of Peace,
we screened the documentary film “The Vow from Hiroshima”, which traces the life of Setsuko Thurlow, an
A-bomb survivor living in Canada who worked for theentry into force of the TPNW and gave the Nobel Peace
Prize acceptance speech at the ICAN Nobel Peace Prize
Ceremony in 2017. Yumi Kanazaki, Director of the Hiroshima Peace Media Center of the Chugoku Shimbun
newspaper, also gave a lecture titled “The journey to theentry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear
Weapons and the future”.
Ms. Kanazaki gave a clear explanation of the TPNW andpraised Germany’s announcement to participate as an observer at the First Meeting of States Parties. She also talked about what she felt through her years of reporting andanecdotes with Setsuko Thurlow. Finally, she introduced
an audio message from the film’s producer, Michi Takeuchi, who was born in Hiroshima and lives in New York,saying, “I hope this film will inspire you to take action fora peaceful world.”
Visitors commented, “I felt once again that the accumulation of small actions is important,” and “I was movedby the energy in each of Ms. Thurlow’s words.” Throughthe lecture and the film, we were able to empathize with
Setsuko Thurlow’s thoughts and share with the audience
the importance of each of us wishing for peace in our daily lives andtaking action,even in small
ways.

Communicating Hiroshima and Nagasaki to Each Other - Hiroshima Session
2021 - (November 20)
As the A-bomb survivors are aging, the “Let’s Tell Each
Other About Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Hiroshima Association 2021” event was held to convey the thoughts of
A-bomb survivors, mainly through recitation, with the belief that it is important for various generations to pass on
the A-bomb experience in their own ways. This event wasplanned for the first time by volunteers from various organizations that have been conducting A-bomb testimony
reading activities in
Hiroshima City, andwas co-sponsoredby our Foundation.
At the event, there
werescreeningsof video clips thatHigh school students reading out the were produced by
A-bomb testimony of Hiroshima hibakusha
members of HiroEmiko Okada

The lecture and the film poster

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Winner of the Peace Culture Award decided!

ic bombing is presented through a video, followed by thereading of A-bomb memoirs and poems by volunteer presenters, and finally the participants themselves are read
poems.
Last November 21, two reading sessions were held, one
at 11:00 and the other at 14:30, as one of the events for theMonth for a Culture of Peace.
A total of 15 people participated, including residents ofHiroshima City, visitors from outside the prefecture, andpeople from the United States living in Japan.

As one of the activities of the Month for a Culture ofPeace, the Hiroshima City Board of Education has awarded the Peace Culture Prize to four of the entries in theannual “Messages from Our Young People” contest. The
works express a strong desire for peace in daily life.
The entries were based on the theme, “I want a Hiroshima like this,” and were essays, manga comics, and illustrations that expressed the importance of the city in which
they live and their ideal city. The works can be viewed on
this Foundation’s website.

Comments from participants

Creative Writing Division, Elementary School Section
Shinjiro Nakatani, 6th grade student, Hiroshima City
Waseda Elementary School“Helping Each Other in Hiroshima”

A woman who is a nursery school teacher and was participating in the reading session for the third time, said
that she was particularly impressed by the poem “Genshibakudan” (Atomic Bomb) written by Hatsumi Sakamoto,a third-grade elementary school student, which appearedin the poetry collection “From Under the Atomic Cloud”
published in 1952.

Creative Writing Division, Junior High School Section
Mai Kato, 2nd year student, Hiroshima City Itsukaichi Junior High School“What We Can Do in Hiroshima”“Genshibakudan” by Hatsumi Sakamoto
When the atomic bomb is dropped
Day becomes night
People become ghosts(Source: “From Under the Atomic Cloud” (Aoki
Shoten Publishing Co.))

Creative Writing Division, High School/General Section
Asuka Kuwabara, 3rd year student, Hiroshima City KabeHigh School“What We Can Pass On to Future Generations”

The woman said “This child, who has never met a ghost,compares people who have been hurt in the bombing toghosts. I think it must have been so horrible that it can
only be expressed in such words. I believe that participating in a recital session will move you. The duration is
40 minutes, so it’s easy to participate, and I hope many
people will join us.”

Manga Comic and Illustration Division
Kazuki Kono, 1st grade student, Hiroshima City Konan Elementary
School“Peace is nice”; I think it’s nice tohave a peaceful city, so I drew a picture of people and animals laughing“Peace is nice”
together.
(Public Collaboration for Peace Division)

Comments from volunteers
We spoke with Ms. Yoko Matsuo, a volunteer who reads
A-bomb testimonies.
We want to communicate the A-bomb experience
For the past 26 years, I have served
as the host of the Peace Summit, agathering of elementary school students who make the Commitment to
Peace at the Peace Memorial Ceremony. I felt like I was being pushed,
Ms. Yoko Matsuo
thinking “What am I doing whenchildren are thinking about Hiroshima and peace as something so familiar to them?” That’s when I heard about thecall for volunteers to read A-bomb memoirs, and I decided
to apply to pass on the A-bomb experience through readings. Then, in 2004, I started the activity as the first-generation member.

Atomic Bomb Memoir
Reading sessions
At the Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for the
Atomic Bomb Victims, Atomic Bomb Memoir Reading
Sessions are held to share the memories and thoughts of
the hibakusha and pass them on to the next generation byreading and talking
about hibakusha’s
stories and A-bombpoems. At the sessions, an overview
of the damage
caused by the atomThree volunteer presenters run the session
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Making the words resonate in people’s hearts
I believe that the hibakusha had experiences and feelings
that we cannot even imagine. To be close to the hibakusha’s feelings, we repeatedly read their A-bomb memoirs
and poems and express them as words. I am carrying out
this activity with the hope that it will resonate in the heartsof the participants.
“No one else should ever suffer as we have.” I believethat we, as recipients of this important and kind message,
must continue to pass it on.
Reading the testimonies is a profound act. Even in thespaces between the lines and the different positions ofpunctuation marks, the feelings of the hibakusha are reflected. How can we understand and communicate this? I
would like to continue to learn.
(Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims)

Online program “Barbara Reynolds, the woman who walked with the
hibakusha”

ies)
・UNICEF and the children of the world (Hiroshima Association for UNICEF)
・Youth International Exchange Activities Presentation
Session (Hiroshima City Board of Education, Youth
Development Department, Education Development Division)・Hiroshima City University, Faculty of International
Studies Open Lecture: “The Contemporary World andMinorities and Diversity: From the book series ‘Looking to the Periphery’” (Hiroshima City University, Faculty of International Studies)
・Barbara Reynolds, the woman who walked with the hibakusha (World Friendship Center)

International Festival 2021

－Let’s open the door to the world.
Let’s meet the world’s people－

The 22nd International Festival was held on November 20thand 21st last year.
Following on from the previous year, this time the scaleof the program was drastically reduced to prevent the
spread of the COVID-19, and thorough infection prevention measures were taken. On the 20th, six programs wereconducted via online streaming only, and on the 21st, threeprograms of lectures and presentations, four programs ofJapanese cultural experiences, and one program of online
streaming were conducted at the International ConferenceCenter Hiroshima, both in person and via online streaming.
We were also able to hold hands-on programs that were
not possible in 2020, and could hold this event with meaningful content on the theme of international exchange andcooperation.

Program held on November 21“They’re unfortunate animals but we love them－on the 50th anniversary of Asa Zoo－”
In the popular annual talk show held jointly by ourFoundation and Japan International Cooperation Agency Chugoku Center (JICA Chugoku), Mr. Takashi
Maruyama, known as the creator of books “Encyclopedia of Unfortunate Animals” and “There’s a reason why
they became extinct” appeared as a guest. He introduced
his cross-cultural experiences in the various parts of theworld where he traveled to create his animal illustrated
books, as well as the slightly “unfortunate” aspects of animals.
In the firsthalf of thetalk show, Mr.
Maruyama
talked about
his experiences of living
and working The lecture “They’re unfortunate animals but weon an ostrich love them”
farm in Israel, searching for animals in the surrounding
desert, and climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest peakin Africa. At the same time, he shared anecdotes about the
animals he met along the way.
In the latter half of the session, Ms. Ayako Noda, theProgram held on November 20
As a continuation of last year’s online project using theZoom web conferencing tool, six organizations, including citizens’ groups and public organizations, spoke about
their organizations, presented their activities, and gave
lectures.
Each organization used images and videos to make theevent easy to understand and to keep the participants engaged.
The programs held and organizations are listed below.
・Historian Sanyo Rai and Japanese history (Hiroshima’s
Historiographers)
・Japanese and World Nature Exploration Presentation
Session (New Japanese Association of Galapagos Stud6

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which won the 2020 New Book Award in Japan. In thelecture, Mr. Oki spoke enthusiastically about the background of the battle, the actual damage, and the situationin Volgograd at that time, showing diagrams. At the endof the lecture, a question-and-answer session was held.

head of animal care at Hiroshima City Asa Zoo, whichcelebrated its 50th anniversary in 2021, came on stage totalk about anecdotes from the park in the form of a dialogue.
Ms. Noda told valuable stories about giant salamanders,such as the fact that Asa Zoo has the largest number of giant salamanders in Japan, and the reason why is that theytake good care of the local species. She also spoke about
the problem of the Japanese native species and the alien
species from China.

JICA Global Plaza
This year, two online events were held. The first part of
the tour was a “mystery tour” with two foreign residentsof Hiroshima joining as guests. Participants were asked
to guess their country of origin based on photos and anecdotes about food, clothing, housing, and culture. In thesecond part, a former JICA Overseas Cooperation Volunteers member who had been dispatched to the Republicof Ghana in West Africa served as a lecturer and introduced the Adinkra symbols of Ghana. These are symbols
that represent concepts and sayings and are used in articles such as patterns and logos. They are also arranged invarious combinations and used as a means of non-verbal
communication. At the end of the session, participants
created their own original Adinkra symbol and explained
the meaning behind the symbol.

Virtual Round-the-World Tour of Sister andFriendship Cities －With Hiroshima Messengers
as your guides!－Hiroshima Messengers, who promote exchange activities with six sister and friendship cities around the world,
held a project to introduce each city. A total of 11 Hiroshima Messengers wore traditional costumes and colorfulsashes designed and made by themselves for the occasion.
In a very festive atmosphere, they introduced the charmsof their assigned cities and their exchange activities with
Hiroshima in an easy-to-understand and enjoyable manner. There was also a quiz contest with prizes and a raffle,
which was enjoyed not only by the participants but also by
the Hiroshima Messengers themselves. One of the participants commented, “This is the first time I learned about
the active exchange activities between Hiroshima and its
sister and friendship cities. It was a good opportunity.”

Japanese traditional culture experience for foreign residents
The Japanese traditional culture experience program
was limited to foreign residents of Hiroshima and heldwith a set number of participants.
At the kimono dressing experience run by the instructorsof Nichiwa kimono-dressing class, participants wearing
gorgeous furisode (long-sleeved kimono) were happily
taking commemorative photos inside and outside the venue.
In the Japanese-style room on the third floor of the International Conference Center Hiroshima, a tea ceremony
was held by members of the Ueda School Wafudo. In order to prevent the spread of the COVID-19, a maximum
number of participants per hour was set to avoid congestion, the spaces between seats were widened, and paper
bowls were used to ensure that participants did not share
the tea bowls and they could be disposed of. In a quiet andcalm atmosphere, participants were able to experience the
Ueda Sōko style of tea ceremony.

The 2021 Hiroshima Messengers“The Town that Resisted Extinction: The Historical Meaning of the Battle of Stalingrad”
This lecture was held on the occasion of the 50th anniversary in 2022 of the sister city affiliation between Hiroshima and Volgograd, Russia. It was an opportunity to learn
about the tragedy of the Stalingrad Offensive, in which
the city of Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad) suffered great
war damage, and to consider the significance of the sistercity affiliation between the two cities.
The lecturer, Mr. Takeshi Oki, has a wealth of knowledge about the damage caused by the war in Volgograd,
as shown in his book on the Stalingrad siege, “The Russo-German War: The Disaster of the Extinction War”,

Participants in the kimono dressing experience (left)
Tea ceremony experience (right)

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At other venues, there were also calligraphy workshops
by members of the Department of Calligraphy, Faculty of
Letters, Yasuda Women’s University, and an exhibition of
ikebana flower arrangement by members of the Hiroshima Branch of Ikebana International. Participants experienced various aspects of Japanese traditional culture.
(City Diversity & Inclusion Division)

ation of the A-bomb
picture would be aliving experiencethat she could use
even after she became an adult. She
said that it was difficult to express thelight from the atom- “I saw the terrible flash and the B-29 flying
away at the moment of the atomic bomb exic bombing, which plosion.” created by Tsumugi Yamada andwas the main point Shunichiro Araiof the picture, and that even though she and Mr. Arai had
watched the video materials of the bombing many times,
she could not come up with a satisfactory picture. However, after receiving advice from Mr. Arai and making
revisions, she was able to make it closer to the scene heactually saw. Ms. Yamada concluded her speech at thecompletion ceremony with the words, “I hope that thetragedy of the atomic bombing will be conveyed to those
who see this picture, even if only a little.”
In this project, as in the previous year, the students wereunable to listen to the hibakushas’ stories face to face
due to the coronavirus pandemic, so they had meetings
over the phone and communicated the progress of theirdrawings through photographs. Because of the differencesin color and appearance between the photos and the realthing, they had a hard time communicating. The A-bomb
pictures completed through the efforts of the hibakusha
and students will be used in lectures by atomic bomb witnesses to promote a deeper understanding of the A-bomb
experience. We will continue to lend out the pictures andprovide image data to the mass media to help pass on thereality of the atomic bombing to future generations.
(Peace Memorial Museum Outreach Division)

A-bomb Drawings completed－High school students depict A-bomb experiences in pictures－With the cooperation of the Creative Expression Course
at Hiroshima Municipal Motomachi Senior High School,
this Foundation is working with the high school students
to create A-bomb Drawings that depict scenes from theatomic bombing that are still fresh in the minds of hibakusha and convey the situation at the time.
Since fiscal year 2020, 10 hibakusha and 18 students
have been working on the project, and 19 pictures havebeen completed in 2021. Since the works were first commissioned in 2007, more than 140 students have workedon the project, producing 171 valuable pictures.
The completion ceremony was held at Motomachi HighSchool on July 5, 2021. In addition to the nine hibakusha(one was absent) and the students of the Creative Expression Course, including the students who created the pictures, representatives of this Foundation and Motomachi
Senior High School officials also attended the ceremony,taking thorough measures against the COVID-19 infection.
Mr. Shunichiro Arai, an A-bomb survivor, and Ms. Tsumugi Yamada, a second-year student, created a work titled“I saw the terrible flash and the B-29 flying away at the
moment of the atomic bomb explosion.” Ms. Yamada wasworking on the production until the day before the completion ceremony.
On the morning of the day of the atomic bombing, Mr.
Arai witnessed the moment the bomb exploded from
Hachihonmatsu Station in Higashi-Hiroshima City, about
22.2km from the hypocenter. He said that he decided tohave it painted as a record of one of the few times he witnessed the explosion in his line of sight. At first, Mr. Arai
thought it would be an impossible order for Ms. Yamada
to draw a B-29 bomber, which she had never seen or heardof, but after many conversations and revisions, the work
was completed, and he was very happy to finally be able
to show it off. He also said he wanted to express his gratitude to Ms. Yamada and all the people involved in the
production.
Ms. Yamada said that she decided to participate in the
project because she thought that being involved in the cre-Hiroshima-Nagasaki A-bomb
Exhibition during Tokyo
Olympics / Paralympics
In the summer of 2021, when the Olympic and Paralympic Games were held in Tokyo, the City of Hiroshima,in cooperation with the City of Nagasaki, held the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Atomic bomb Exhibition. The aim of theexhibition was tointroduce the realityof the atomic bombings and initiatives
for peace in orderto foster public
opinion toward theabolition of nucle- Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum’s Director Takigawa providing an explanation
ar weapons and the of displays. (Hanno City venue)
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realization of lasting peace in the world. The exhibition
was held at three locations in the Tokyo metropolitan area:
Hanno City, Saitama Prefecture; Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo;
and Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo.
At the venues in Hanno City and Bunkyo Ward, there
were displays of articles that were owned by A-bomb
victims, photo panels showing the reality of the atomic
bombing and the current situation of nuclear weapons,
pictures of the atomic bombing drawn by A-bomb survivors, and pictures of the atomic bombing drawn jointly byhigh school students and A-bomb survivors. At the venue in Chiyoda Ward, in addition to the display of photo
panels, there was a reading corner with books about theatomic bombing, and a DVD screening corner.
However, due to the spread of COVID-19 infection, related events such as A-bomb survivor talks that had beenplanned for each venue had to be postponed. In addition,
for the Chiyoda Ward exhibition, the originally planned
venue could not be used due to the need to secure a venue for vaccinations, so the content of the exhibition was
reduced.
Although it was necessary to make various changes tothe events, they were attended by a large number of people, mainly local residents.
In a questionnaire survey of visitors, the following
valuable comments were made: “It was really tragic, andI thought that such a thing should never happen again,”(teenage visitor); “I realized that the fact that we are living
normally now is not a matter of course, and how lucky weare. It gave me an opportunity to think about life,” (visitor
in their 20s); “From the viewpoint of infection control,
I can’t go to Hiroshima and Nagasaki easily, and it was
valuable to see the A-bomb materials in person. This exhibition made me want to visit the local museum again
when the pandemic is over,” (visitor in their 40s).

【Hanno City, Saitama Prefecture】
Period: July 18 (Sun) - September 5 (Sun) (44 days, excluding museum holidays)
Venue: Hanno City Museum
Number of visitors: 7,550 people【Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo】
Period: July 26 (Mon) - 30 (Fri) (5 days)
Venue: Bunkyo Civic Center, 1st floor, Gallery Civic and
Art Salon
Number of visitors: 1,703 people【Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo】
Period: August 3 (Tues) - 13 (Fri) (8 days, excluding venue holidays)
Venue: Chiyoda Ward City Hall, Ward Information Corner
Number of visitors: 210 people(Peace Memorial Museum Outreach Division)

Online event connecting overseas
museums to share memories
In order to strengthen the network with overseas museums, Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum visits peacethemed museums to coincide with the holding of theHiroshima-Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Exhibition in nuclear-weapon states and other countries, and is discussing
and coordinating collaborative measures to jointly develop initiatives aimed at the abolition of nuclear weaponsand eternal peace in the world.
As part of these efforts, an online event titled “Online
Event Connecting Overseas Museums to Share Memories” was held on September 18 last year. Ms. Masako
Miki, Japanese language liaison for the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, the U.S., was invited as a speaker at the event. Approximately 190 people

Wear Traditional Clothes to Work Day
The City Diversity & Inclusion Division has designated November 12 as “Wear Traditional Clothes to Work Day”. Thiswas held for the first time in 2021, and staff members had fun wearing colorful clothes such as Chinese dresses, ao dai(Vietnamese traditional clothes), aloha shirts, and chima chogori (Korean traditional clothes for women).
Three of the eight foreign staff members wore kimonos. One of them, a “Japanese-inspired” American staff has as manyas 30 kimonos at home and can even put them on herself. The Brazilian staff
member who wore the uniform of the local baseball team, the Hiroshima Toyo
Carp, said, “This is the traditional costume of Hiroshima!”
Even those who usually wear only monotone suits and calm, older management staff were completely transformed into cheerful characters for the first time!
The City Diversity & Inclusion Division and the Consultation Desk for Foreign Residents of Hiroshima City and Aki-gun are located on the 3rd floor of theInternational Conference Center Hiroshima.
We make efforts to support non-Japanese resPlease feel free to visit the City Diversity & Inclusion Division, where our fun
idents, in the hope of making this a welcomingcity where people of all nationalities, ethnicities,
staff members are waiting for you.
and cultures work to coexist.
* Masks were removed for the photograph.
(City Diversity & Inclusion Division)
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attended, from teenagers to people in their 90s.
The Japanese American National Museum opened in
1992 with the mission of deepening understanding of
the ethnic and cultural diversity of the United States by
conveying the history and experiences of Japanese Americans. In 2019, it became the first museum in Los Angeles
to host the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Exhibition, co-sponsored by the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The museum is located in California, where many residents of Hiroshima Prefecture have settled since the Meiji
era (1868-1912). After the atomic bombing, people fromthe Hiroshima Kenjinkai (an association of people fromthe Hiroshima prefecture) and other groups in California,
who learned of the devastation in Hiroshima, sent many
relief supplies and donations, symbolizing the strong ties
with Hiroshima.
In the online event, in her talk titled “The History ofJapanese Americans Connected to the Present”, Ms. Miki
spoke about the beginnings of immigration from Japanto the U.S., the history of Japanese Americans including
incarceration and post-war compensation during WorldWar II, ongoing issues such as hate crimes against Asians
during the pandemic, and the response to the A-bomb exhibition at the museum. There wasalso a virtual tourof the museum anda question & answer session with
Ms. Miki speaking about the Japanese Amer- the participants at
ican National Museum
the end.
Participants commented, “I have never learned so muchabout the Japanese immigration to the United States,
through World War II, to the present. The speaker’s passionate speech was easy to understand and moved me,”and “I was reminded of the importance of communicating
and preserving the facts.” There were also many requests
for more online events connecting people overseas withpeople in Hiroshima in the future.
Through this event, we were able to provide an opportunity for the participants to rethink the importance of passing on history.
The museum will continue to build a network with overseas peace-themed museums to widely disseminate themessage of peace.
(Peace Memorial Museum Outreach Division)Memoir of the A-bombing“Burned by the heat rays of
the atomic bomb”

by Hidetaka Takiguchi
Atomic bomb survivor
registered with our Foundation
Before and after the dropping of the bomb
On August 6, 1945, there were four of us living in our
house in Hakushima: my mother, who was 33 years old;me, who would turn five on August 8; my younger sister,
who was 10 months old; and my cousin’s fiancé. My father was away at war.
At around 8 am, my cousin’s fiancé said, “I’m going toclean your room, so go outside for a while.” So my mother, holding my sister, and I went outside.
At around eight o’clock, the sky was almost cloudless,and the direct rays of the midsummer sun were harshly
beating down. I found some shade and was playing there.
After a while, I could hear the heavy propeller noise ofYouth Webinar for Peace Action
On August 26 last year, Mayors for Peace held a peace education webinar, Youth Webinar for Peace Action, to promote
youth-led peace activities in member cities. The session was live-streamed on YouTube.
Thirteen youths from nine organizations working for peace around the world, including organizations in Hiroshima
and Nagasaki, gave presentations in English about their own peace activities and answered questions from the audience.
Afterwards, the participants discussed their future activities, and one ofthem said, “In order to involve more young people in peace activities in the
future, it would be good to implement initiatives that combine their awareness of issues and their interests with nuclear disarmament and peace activities.”
They also suggested that they take advantage of the connections among theorganizations that were created in this webinar and continue to hold online
Mayors for Peace Youth Webinar for Peace Action
events together and other collaborative peace activities.
We look forward to their future activities. The webinar can be viewed at the URL below.
URL: http://www.mayorsforpeace.org/en/news/2021/former-2021-webinar-result-en/(Mayors for Peace Administration Division)
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B-29 bombers. I called out, “Mom, there’s planes, I’m
going home,” and ran back to the house. As I walked in
the front door and was about to close the door, there wasa flash and I felt a strong pain in my left arm and a slightpain in my left cheek and heel. Immediately after that
there was a powerful blast, which blew my little five-yearold body away and knocked me unconscious as I hit myhead on the edge of the well in the kitchen.
My mother, who was holding my sister, felt an intense
pain in her back at the same time as the flash of light. She
realized that her blouse was on fire, and hurried to takeit off, but her calves and heels were burned. Despite her
terrible state, she noticed that her son was not there. She
looked for me as she cleaned up the fallen pillars of thehouse, and saved me. I was still unconscious.

from Hakushima for Hiroshima Station. The city that we
passed through on the way had turned to burnt-out ruins,
and we could see far into the distance. The distinctive
smell of the fire afterwards was sickening and horrifying
to remember. We arrived at Hiroshima Station, and finallyboarded a train amidst crowds of fleeing people. We arrived at Matsunaga City, where my mother’s family homewas. My mother’s parents lived on a farm with a large
house, slightly elevated, and we began our recuperation ina large, well-ventilated living room.
The burn on my mother’s back smelled so bad that my
grandparents and uncles, who were taking care of her,
kept saying how bad it smelled. A fly may have laid eggs
in my mother’s back, and the eggs grew into maggots andcrawled around on her back, making it itchy. My mother
could not get them off by herself, so she had to get others to take them out with a pair of disposable chopsticks.
My mother had a persistent high fever of 41 degrees. One
day, she lost consciousness: apparently it felt as if she wasfalling into the bottom of a deep, deep well. She eventually regained consciousness this time, but apparently she
thought, “So this is what it means to die.”

Fleeing to Nakanoshima
The skin on my left arm was peeling and hanging down,
and my mother’s back was burned with the skin peelingaway.
We just needed to get away from there, so we climbed
up the nearby riverbank with my cousin’s fiancé, who wasstill inside and unharmed, then went through Chojyu-en (apark that was a popular cherry blossom viewing spot until
around 1950), and arrived at the bank of the Ota River.
There was an island called Nakanoshima in the middle of
the river. The river was shallow at the time, so we walked
across the river and took refuge at Nakanoshima. When I
put my foot in the river, the burn on my heel hurt so badthat I jumped. My mother was even more severely burned,
so I think her pain must have been intense. So many people took refuge on Nakanoshima that there was no place tostep. In the evening, we crossed the river again and went
home, but the house was tilted and we could not go inside,
so we spent the night in an air-raid shelter.

The burn on my left arm
The skin on my left arm had been burned by the heatrays, and was burned all the way down to my fingertips sothat I could not even bend my fingers. To allow my fingers
to move freely, they used to insert a cloth soaked in cooking oil between my fingers, but it was extremely painfulwhen they removed the cloth, and I always cried during thetreatment. It was worth it, and now I can move my fingers
freely. I am grateful for the treatment I received. However,the burned area on my left arm developed into keloid scars
and the flesh on the back of my hand in particular became
raised, making it difficult to move my wrist. It was especially hard during the cold winter months, when the skinwould crack and moving my fingers would cause extreme
pain. The cracks became infected and my shirt cuffs werealways dirty with pus. My mother, who was worried about
my inability to freely move my wrists, found out about theenactment of the Atomic Bomb Survivors Relief Law in1994. She called the hospital, and I had a skin graft. As
a result, I now know the pleasure of being able to movefreely without feeling any pain.

Nakanoshima in around 1975. This sandbar was filled with people who
had fled the atomic bombing.

Death of my younger sister Hiroko
My sister, who was being held by my mother at the time,
was exposed to heat rays on part of her head. She was
examined by a doctor two days after the bombing, who
said, “She’s lucky to have only received a burn like this.”
She did look healthy at that time. However, my motherstopped producing breastmilk, and at that time, there was

Recuperating at my mother’s family home
On the third day after the bombing, my mother’s brotherand my father’s sister’s husband came to help us. They
cleaned up the house, put my mother, my sister and I ina handcart with pots and pans and other tools, and set off
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We the hibakusha want to ensure that what happened in
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the destruction of our cities, thephysical and mental scars, and the tragic loss of life, will
never happen again.

not enough powdered milk available. In these poor conditions, and due to the long journey from Hiroshima to
Matsunaga, Hiroko was very weak and passed away in mymother’s sister’s arms on August 22. When my mother,
who was recuperating, heard of her daughter’s death, shecried out loud and could not stop crying, at the thoughtthat she was unable to take care of Hiroko herself becauseof her burns.

Profile[Hidetaka Takiguchi]
I was born in 1940 in Ujina-machi, Hiroshima City, andhad moved to Hakushima-cho when the atomic bomb was
dropped. As post-war reconstruction progressed, I learned
from news reports that A-bombed buildings were disappearing to make way for city building work, and around1982 I began photographing A-bombed trees and buildings on my days off.
The people of Hiroshima were given courage and energy by the A-bombed trees, which were among the firstto grow shoots, despite being told that no plants or trees
would grow for 75 years after the bombing.

Wishing for peace
For 77 years, from the Meiji Restoration (1868) until theatomic bomb was dropped in August 1945, Japan was at
war with other countries. In the Pacific War, 3.1 million
people died, including soldiers and civilians. However, inthe 76 years from August 1945 to August 2021, Japan has
not been at war. I sincerely hope that Japan will continue
to be a country that never engages in war.
Atomic and hydrogen bombs and nuclear weapons are
horrific weapons that can raze and completely destroy avast area in an instant with heat rays and blasts, and thencontinue to invade the human body with invisible radiation for decades. I think many people do not know how
horrific atomic and hydrogen bombs and nuclear weapons are. In order to make more people around the worldaware of the dangers of nuclear weapons, I will continue
to appeal from Hiroshima. I truly hope that nuclear weapons will be eliminated from the world and we will havea peaceful world without war. Even if a drop of water issmall, when many water drops gather together they become a large river, creating great power and flow. It is
important that we make this movement bigger and bigger.

Information
Our newsletters (Japanese version and English version)
are accessible on the internet.
[URL] www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/hpcf/paper/[Request] Please contact us if you change your mailingaddress.

HIROSHIMA PEACE CULTURE FOUNDATION
1-2 Nakajima-cho, Naka-ku, Hiroshima
730-0811 JAPAN
Phone: 082-241-5246
E-mail: p-soumu@pcf.city.hiroshima.jp
URL: www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/hpcf/

In Memory of Sunao Tsuboi
Sunao Tsuboi, an A-bomb survivor and a councillor of this Foundation, passed away on October 24,
2021. He was 96 years old.
Mr. Tsuboi was a student at the Hiroshima Technical College (currently the Faculty of Engineering
at Hiroshima University) when he was exposed to the atomic bomb at the age of 20 on a street near
Hiroshima City Hall, about 1 km from the hypocenter.
Originally a teacher, after retiring from his position as principal of Jonan Junior High School in
Hiroshima in 1986, he joined the hibakusha movement, and while suffering from chronic aplastic
anemia, cancer, and other disorders related to the atomic bombing, he has called for the abolition of
nuclear weapons and world peace through lectures on the A-bomb experience in Japan and abroad.
He has served as a Co-Chairperson of the NIHON HIDANKYO (Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers
Organizations) and as the Chairperson of the Board of the Hiroshima Prefecture Confederation of Atomic Bomb Sufferers’ Associations. In 2011, he was awarded the Kiyoshi Tanimoto Peace Prize, which is given to individuals who havecontributed to peace through their peace activities such as testimonies of the A-bomb experience.
He was also a member of the former Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum Exhibition Review Committee from 2010 to2019, and was instrumental in the renewal of the exhibition.
“After the bombing, life has not been easy. All I could think about was whether to live or die. The hibakusha have endured countless suffering. I hope the exhibition will touch on that.”
Mr. Tsuboi’s words, based on his own experiences, have been a great encouragement and guide for staffs in planningthe content of the exhibition. His strong desire to “continue to convey the message and never let it be lost” lives on in
the museum’s exhibits.
In memory of Mr. Tsuboi’s achievements during his life, we pray for his soul.
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