Hiromi Peterson receives Kiyoshi Tanimoto Peace Award for handing down A-bomb memories
Nov. 15, 2016
by Hiroaki Watanabe, Staff Writer
Hiromi Peterson, a former Japanese language teacher at Punahou School in Hawaii, was given the 28th Kiyoshi Tanimoto Peace Award by the Hiroshima Peace Center Foundation in a ceremony held on November 13. The 68-year-old resident of Honolulu is a second-generation A-bomb survivor.
Ms. Peterson received the award certificate from Mamoru Tsuru, chairman of the foundation, in the ceremony held at the Hiroshima campus of the Hiroshima Institute of Technology in downtown Hiroshima. She said that U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to Hiroshima in May of this year and this award for her efforts have given her satisfaction, reaffirming her belief in her work.
Ms. Peterson, who is originally from Minami Ward, Hiroshima, taught Japanese at the Hawaiian school which U.S. President Barack Obama once attended. She published a Japanese textbook for junior high and high school students, the contents of which include the damage caused by the atomic bomb. Thanks to the fund she established with royalties from the textbook, two high school students and one teacher from the school have been sent to Hiroshima each summer, since 2009, to learn more about peace.
After the award ceremony, Ms. Peterson spoke to reporters and commented on Donald Trump winning the U.S. presidential election. “I’m afraid, after President Obama’s efforts, that there could be a loss of momentum. I will continue making my efforts just the same.”
(Originally published on November 15, 2016)
Hiromi Peterson, a former Japanese language teacher at Punahou School in Hawaii, was given the 28th Kiyoshi Tanimoto Peace Award by the Hiroshima Peace Center Foundation in a ceremony held on November 13. The 68-year-old resident of Honolulu is a second-generation A-bomb survivor.
Ms. Peterson received the award certificate from Mamoru Tsuru, chairman of the foundation, in the ceremony held at the Hiroshima campus of the Hiroshima Institute of Technology in downtown Hiroshima. She said that U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to Hiroshima in May of this year and this award for her efforts have given her satisfaction, reaffirming her belief in her work.
Ms. Peterson, who is originally from Minami Ward, Hiroshima, taught Japanese at the Hawaiian school which U.S. President Barack Obama once attended. She published a Japanese textbook for junior high and high school students, the contents of which include the damage caused by the atomic bomb. Thanks to the fund she established with royalties from the textbook, two high school students and one teacher from the school have been sent to Hiroshima each summer, since 2009, to learn more about peace.
After the award ceremony, Ms. Peterson spoke to reporters and commented on Donald Trump winning the U.S. presidential election. “I’m afraid, after President Obama’s efforts, that there could be a loss of momentum. I will continue making my efforts just the same.”
(Originally published on November 15, 2016)
