Japan and American students join together in writing peace messages
Sep. 21, 2012
The AIU High School Diplomats Program, based in Tokyo, accepts applications from across Japan for its program in the United States every summer. I was selected as one of the participants and went to the United States from July 22 to August 13.
Forty Japanese students took part. We stayed with American families and at a dormitory on the campus of Princeton University, located in the state of New Jersey, with 40 students from American high schools.
Because I’m from Hiroshima, I gave a speech on August 6. I talked about how students from my school, at the time of the atomic bombing, were mobilized for the war effort and were helping to create firebreaks in the event of air raids. When the bomb exploded, more than 300 of them were killed.
The Japanese and American students then wrote down messages of peace on a board, 60 centimeters long by 85 centimeters wide, and attached paper cranes. This “peace message board” will be offered to the Children’s Peace Monument in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.
We also held a discussion about nuclear energy. Students of both nations expressed opinions in support of nuclear energy, and against it. In particular, I heard the interesting view of a student from Fukui Prefecture. The student said that everyone there knows nuclear energy is dangerous, but because the local economy is largely linked to a nuclear power plant, if nuclear energy was suddenly abandoned, many people would lose their jobs.
I learned from my experience in the program that it’s important to have respect for one another, regardless of our positions, and to take pride in being Japanese. (Sae Murai, 16)
(Originally published on September 11, 2012 )
Forty Japanese students took part. We stayed with American families and at a dormitory on the campus of Princeton University, located in the state of New Jersey, with 40 students from American high schools.
Because I’m from Hiroshima, I gave a speech on August 6. I talked about how students from my school, at the time of the atomic bombing, were mobilized for the war effort and were helping to create firebreaks in the event of air raids. When the bomb exploded, more than 300 of them were killed.
The Japanese and American students then wrote down messages of peace on a board, 60 centimeters long by 85 centimeters wide, and attached paper cranes. This “peace message board” will be offered to the Children’s Peace Monument in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.
We also held a discussion about nuclear energy. Students of both nations expressed opinions in support of nuclear energy, and against it. In particular, I heard the interesting view of a student from Fukui Prefecture. The student said that everyone there knows nuclear energy is dangerous, but because the local economy is largely linked to a nuclear power plant, if nuclear energy was suddenly abandoned, many people would lose their jobs.
I learned from my experience in the program that it’s important to have respect for one another, regardless of our positions, and to take pride in being Japanese. (Sae Murai, 16)
(Originally published on September 11, 2012 )
