Conveying Our Thoughts

Yes, I am. I was born and grew up in Tokyo.

My first visit to Hiroshima of 20 years ago did. I had an opportunity to listen to a survivor’s story. At the end of his story, he said,
“I have a reason to tell my A-bomb experience to you. I want you to pass our experiences down to future generations as much as possible.”
I was so moved to know that the A-bomb survivors were so determined to convey their experiences, even though they couldn’t remember their experiences without feeling pain or falling ill. So, I promised him, saying, “All right. I will do that to the best of my ability.” I was a college student then.That was a one-to-one promise between him and me, but I was aware that there were a lot of survivors behind him, which meant that I promised those survivors, too. So I determined to keep my word, starting to join various activities. That was my starting point.

No, it wasn’t.It was during the program called “PEACE NOW” sponsored by the National Federation of University Co-operative Associations (NFUCA). NFUCA holds “PEACE NOW” every year, sending co-op student members from each member university to Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Okinawa and Nemuro, as part of its peace activities. The students learn various things in each place. When I participated in a “PEACE NOW” program for the first time, its destination was Hiroshima.

Not very much. There were no programs about peace at my junior and senior high schools. I remember that my Modern History teacher skipped the units of wartime and postwar periods in the textbook. I quite casually took part in the program in university, thinking that I would take that opportunity to visit Hiroshima.

It really opened my eyes. I was shocked.
Until then, I had understood that thanks to nuclear deterrence and Japan’s nuclear umbrella, the world order was well maintained.
However, I learned from the survivor that such a tragedy in Hiroshima and Nagasaki had been caused by nuclear weapons. The A-bomb survivors are the victims of those weapons. Hearing the survivor, I had to change my old understanding.

I was a college student then, so I started talking to fellow-students at my college. At the university festival, I made large paper display panels to show what I had learned in Hiroshima and printed some booklets to hand out to participants who visited my exhibit. Also, I exchanged opinions with those participants.
After I got a job at the department store in Tokyo, I could hardly find the atmosphere at my workplace to share with colleagues what I had learned, although I wanted to. Instead, I learned more by myself. I spent some time of distress. In the meantime, I became a union official and met many people. To my delight, someone came up with a plan to have a seminar in Hiroshima, and opportunities for me to talk about the A-bombing to people increased.

The biggest one is to pass down the A-bomb experience to future generations. When it comes to the facts of the A-bombing, you can learn them at the museum and from books. Also on the museum’s website, you can view materials preserved there and feel their messages.
However, it is really difficult for me to convey what the survivors have in their hearts.
Nobody but the survivors themselves can do it. The speaker’s attitude depends on the listener’s attitude, doesn’t it? If your listener is good, you will talk leaning forward. Images and pictures are one-way communication and impossible to convey their full messages successfully.
A-bomb survivors’ average age is becoming close to 80. Which means the number of survivors will be reduced to zero in the next one or two decades.
This is absolutely certain.Then, we, the younger generation, will have to take the role of passing down the survivors’thoughts and messages to succeeding generations. I am very sure that it will by no means be easy.

It may sound big, but my goal is to set up a Tokyo branch of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum.
Because Hiroshima is 800 km away from Tokyo, we cannot readily visit it. No one has the opportunity to come to Hiroshima except those who are determined to visit, who are given the opportunity by fate, or who come on business trips.
If there is such a branch museum in Tokyo, people in the Kanto area will be able to visit it more easily and learn the facts there. People from other countries won’t need to come to Hiroshima. They will be able to visit it during their sightseeing in Tokyo after arriving at Narita Airport. It can be another base to convey our thoughts. I wish I could establish it someday.