×

Junior Writers Reporting

Students of Kannon Junior High School listen to accounts of atomic bombing and war

As the anniversary of the Hiroshima A-bombing approaches each year on August 6, students at Kannon Junior High School, located in Nishi Ward, Hiroshima, listen to accounts of the atomic bombing and the war and put them in writing.

At the time of the bombing, the school was known as The Second National School. More than 250 students and teachers who were mobilized for the war effort, such as helping to dismantle houses to create a fire lane in the event of air raids, died that day. A monument to those who perished was subsequently built in the green zone along Peace Boulevard, at a spot in Dobashi-cho, Naka Ward. Since the memorial service at this monument in 2008, students of Kannon Junior High School have been listening to A-bomb accounts and war experiences from atomic bomb survivors and family members of the dead.

This year, 32 students, representing each class from the first year to the third year, listened to the participants’ stories. One of these 32 students, Nagisa Nishibayashi, 14, is in her second year and she was told by a man in his 70s: “Please learn well from the past so there won’t be another war.” Nagisa said, “To help make a peaceful world, I want to continue learning about what happened and tell others about the atomic bombing and the war.”

Every year they write down the stories they have heard on large paper and display them in the school or offer them in presentations at each grade level.

Akihiko Nakayama, 57, the principal of the school, commented, “Our peace today was built on the sacrifices made by our elders. I hope today’s teens will make efforts to preserve peace.” (Yuka Iguchi, 18)

(Originally published on October 28, 2013)

Archives