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Junior Writers Reporting

Walking tour informs parents and children of Hiroshima’s history

A citizens’ group called “Walking Tours to Reflect on the History of Hiroshima,” based in Nishi Ward, organizes tours for parents and children every year on August 7. They visit remnants of the atomic bombing and the war to ponder Hiroshima’s past and present.

The tour includes the former Army Clothing Depot, located in Minami Ward, which once produced uniforms and other clothing for Japanese soldiers, and became a temporary relief station in the wake of the atomic bombing. Another stop on the tour is the remains of the Imperial Headquarters, located on the grounds of Hiroshima Castle in Naka Ward.

The group was founded in 2010 by Shunsuke Taga, 62, a resident of Nishi Ward and a part-time teacher at Notre Dame Seishin Junior High School and Senior High School. Commenting on their efforts to guide people to a variety of historic sites that reflect Hiroshima’s history as a military city, Mr. Taga said, “I would like participants to learn not only about the atomic bombing, but also about our history as an aggressor so they will feel that we should never wage war again.”

Those who have taken the tour have offered such impressions as “I plan to share my experience with the people around me when I go home” and “I learned a lot of new things from this tour.” Feedback of this kind provides the group with fresh motivation for its efforts.

“I’d like participants on the tour to have an active imagination,” Mr. Taga said, believing that the first step toward a peaceful world lies in viewing the war and the atomic bombing as personal concerns.

In the near future, Mr. Taga intends to add some sites to the tour which will provide participants with a feeling for the city’s reconstruction following the atomic bombing. (Yumi Kimura, 16 and Takeshi Iwata, 13)

(Originally Published on October 1, 2012)

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