Signature drive for nuclear abolition is conducted in front of A-bomb Dome
Aug. 6, 2010
by Yumi Kangasaki, Staff Writer
On August 5, two students from Punahou School in Honolulu, Hawaii, the alma mater of U.S. President Barack Obama, joined a campaign collecting signatures around the A-bomb Dome for a petition which appeals for the abolition of nuclear weapons.
The students, Christina Meyer, 17, and Elizabeth Ushigome, 17, have both been staying in Hiroshima since the end of July for a peace exchange with students of Hiroshima Jogakuin Senior High School.
For four hours, Ms. Meyer and Ms. Ushigome called for signatures with the students from Hiroshima and from Eishin Gakuen, located in the city of Fukuyama. Hiroshima Jogakuin Senior High School and Eishin Gakuin are members of the planning committee of "Nuclear Abolition Now! Signature Drive by Junior and Senior High School Students," an effort launched in 2008.
Ms. Meyer said she was very impressed to learn that so many people from around the world have come to Hiroshima to attend the Peace Memorial Ceremony on August 6. Hiromi Kawashima, 16, a second-year student at Hiroshima Jogakuin Senior High Scholl and chair of the committee, said that she hopes both Ms. Meyer and Ms. Ushigome will tell their schoolmates at home, based on this experience, that high school students can play a role in the movement to abolish nuclear weapons.
Punahou School has been eagerly engaged in peace activities, such as helping with the English translation of 100 letters by Japanese students to President Obama that were collected by "Peace Seeds," a peace newspaper produced by Japanese teens in Hiroshima and published regularly in the Chugoku Shimbun.
(Originally published on August 6, 2010)
On August 5, two students from Punahou School in Honolulu, Hawaii, the alma mater of U.S. President Barack Obama, joined a campaign collecting signatures around the A-bomb Dome for a petition which appeals for the abolition of nuclear weapons.
The students, Christina Meyer, 17, and Elizabeth Ushigome, 17, have both been staying in Hiroshima since the end of July for a peace exchange with students of Hiroshima Jogakuin Senior High School.
For four hours, Ms. Meyer and Ms. Ushigome called for signatures with the students from Hiroshima and from Eishin Gakuen, located in the city of Fukuyama. Hiroshima Jogakuin Senior High School and Eishin Gakuin are members of the planning committee of "Nuclear Abolition Now! Signature Drive by Junior and Senior High School Students," an effort launched in 2008.
Ms. Meyer said she was very impressed to learn that so many people from around the world have come to Hiroshima to attend the Peace Memorial Ceremony on August 6. Hiromi Kawashima, 16, a second-year student at Hiroshima Jogakuin Senior High Scholl and chair of the committee, said that she hopes both Ms. Meyer and Ms. Ushigome will tell their schoolmates at home, based on this experience, that high school students can play a role in the movement to abolish nuclear weapons.
Punahou School has been eagerly engaged in peace activities, such as helping with the English translation of 100 letters by Japanese students to President Obama that were collected by "Peace Seeds," a peace newspaper produced by Japanese teens in Hiroshima and published regularly in the Chugoku Shimbun.
(Originally published on August 6, 2010)
