Son of late A-bomb survivor to carry on father’s legacy in class on peace issues in South Korean school
Oct. 19, 2015
by Michiko Tanaka, Staff Writer
Koji Matsushima, 49, an English teacher living in the local town of Fuchu, will hold a special class on peace issues at a high school in South Korea on October 6. The son of the late Keijiro Matsushima, an A-bomb survivor who devoted himself to sharing his experience of the bombing in English, the younger Matsushima said, “I hope my class can provide the students with a chance to learn about the folly of war and ponder what a better future looks like.” On his father’s behalf, he will talk about Hiroshima’s efforts to promote a more peaceful world.
His class is part of an exchange event between Kamo High School in the city of Higashihiroshima, where he works, and Michuhol Foreign Language High School in Inchon. The two high schools are sister schools. In a class of 70 Korean students who are learning Japanese, Mr. Matsushima will refer to the presence of Korean A-bomb survivors, explain the meaning of the inscription on the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims, and raise potential ways to improve relations between Japan and South Korea.
His father, Keijiro Matsushima, was a junior high school English teacher and was actively involved in relating his A-bomb account after he retired. “I only saw his enthusiasm for sharing his experience,” Mr. Matsushima said. But after Keijiro passed away last November at the age of 85, he realized that his father had had a significant impact on others as many messages of condolence came from people both in Japan and in places overseas.
Reflecting on a drawing Keijiro had made of A-bombed students and the message he wrote on the picture, which said, “I will do my very best to convey your cries and prayers to the world,” Mr. Matsushima felt that he had a duty, as his son and as an English teacher, to do what he could to carry on Keijiro’s legacy. “I want to keep looking for ways to convey the wishes of my father and other A-bomb victims to young people at schools in Japan, too,” he said.
(Originally published on October 6, 2015)
Koji Matsushima, 49, an English teacher living in the local town of Fuchu, will hold a special class on peace issues at a high school in South Korea on October 6. The son of the late Keijiro Matsushima, an A-bomb survivor who devoted himself to sharing his experience of the bombing in English, the younger Matsushima said, “I hope my class can provide the students with a chance to learn about the folly of war and ponder what a better future looks like.” On his father’s behalf, he will talk about Hiroshima’s efforts to promote a more peaceful world.
His class is part of an exchange event between Kamo High School in the city of Higashihiroshima, where he works, and Michuhol Foreign Language High School in Inchon. The two high schools are sister schools. In a class of 70 Korean students who are learning Japanese, Mr. Matsushima will refer to the presence of Korean A-bomb survivors, explain the meaning of the inscription on the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims, and raise potential ways to improve relations between Japan and South Korea.
His father, Keijiro Matsushima, was a junior high school English teacher and was actively involved in relating his A-bomb account after he retired. “I only saw his enthusiasm for sharing his experience,” Mr. Matsushima said. But after Keijiro passed away last November at the age of 85, he realized that his father had had a significant impact on others as many messages of condolence came from people both in Japan and in places overseas.
Reflecting on a drawing Keijiro had made of A-bombed students and the message he wrote on the picture, which said, “I will do my very best to convey your cries and prayers to the world,” Mr. Matsushima felt that he had a duty, as his son and as an English teacher, to do what he could to carry on Keijiro’s legacy. “I want to keep looking for ways to convey the wishes of my father and other A-bomb victims to young people at schools in Japan, too,” he said.
(Originally published on October 6, 2015)
