Hiroshima mayor speaks to students at U.N. International School, stresses role of young people in nuclear abolition
May 2, 2019
by Junji Akechi, Staff Writer
NEW YORK—On April 30, Kazumi Matsui, the mayor of Hiroshima, visited the United Nations International School (UNIS) and spoke to about 130 high school students. UNIS is the school for children of U.N. officials. Mr. Matsui is now in New York to attend the third session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2020 Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). In his talk, he stressed the important role that young people can play in abolishing nuclear weapons.
Showing the audience photos of Hiroshima’s downtown area, which were taken before and after the atomic bombing, and those of A-bomb victims who had suffered severe burns all over their body, Mr. Matsui described the inhumane nature of the atomic bomb, which destroyed the daily lives of the local people and resulted in a range of tragic consequences. Referring to current conditions in the world, where the efforts being made by the nuclear weapon states for nuclear disarmament are not producing satisfactory progress, he asked for the students’ to support the nuclear abolition aim, saying, “Young people are a pillar of society. To create a better future, I hope you will join our efforts to realize our common goal of eliminating nuclear weapons from the world.”
Mr. Matsui was accompanied by eight students from Hiroshima Jogakuin High School, Shudo High School, and Eishin Gakuen High School, who were dispatched to the United States by Mayors for Peace (chaired by Mr. Matsui). The Japanese students shared their activities, such as a signature drive in support of nuclear abolition, to about 30 UNIS students of the same generation. They were then divided into groups and talked about ways to create a more peaceful world. Anju Niwata, a third-year student at Hiroshima Jogakuin High School, said in English that there were many challenges to realizing a world without nuclear weapons, but she suggested that people work together across borders to advance this aim.
On the same day, Mr. Matsui, the eight high school students, and Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue also paid a joint visit to U.N. headquarters and met with Izumi Nakamitsu, the U.N. Under-Secretary General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs. On behalf of the group, Hiroki Yamaguchi and Kazushi Tanimoto, second-year students from Shudo High School, handed Ms. Nakamitsu a list of about 120,000 signatures that they had collected since last April. Ms. Nakamitsu encouraged the students’s efforts by saying, “I hope you will continue to think about how you can make the world a safer place for you, your children, and your grandchildren.”
(Originally published on May 2, 2019)
NEW YORK—On April 30, Kazumi Matsui, the mayor of Hiroshima, visited the United Nations International School (UNIS) and spoke to about 130 high school students. UNIS is the school for children of U.N. officials. Mr. Matsui is now in New York to attend the third session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2020 Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). In his talk, he stressed the important role that young people can play in abolishing nuclear weapons.
Showing the audience photos of Hiroshima’s downtown area, which were taken before and after the atomic bombing, and those of A-bomb victims who had suffered severe burns all over their body, Mr. Matsui described the inhumane nature of the atomic bomb, which destroyed the daily lives of the local people and resulted in a range of tragic consequences. Referring to current conditions in the world, where the efforts being made by the nuclear weapon states for nuclear disarmament are not producing satisfactory progress, he asked for the students’ to support the nuclear abolition aim, saying, “Young people are a pillar of society. To create a better future, I hope you will join our efforts to realize our common goal of eliminating nuclear weapons from the world.”
Mr. Matsui was accompanied by eight students from Hiroshima Jogakuin High School, Shudo High School, and Eishin Gakuen High School, who were dispatched to the United States by Mayors for Peace (chaired by Mr. Matsui). The Japanese students shared their activities, such as a signature drive in support of nuclear abolition, to about 30 UNIS students of the same generation. They were then divided into groups and talked about ways to create a more peaceful world. Anju Niwata, a third-year student at Hiroshima Jogakuin High School, said in English that there were many challenges to realizing a world without nuclear weapons, but she suggested that people work together across borders to advance this aim.
On the same day, Mr. Matsui, the eight high school students, and Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue also paid a joint visit to U.N. headquarters and met with Izumi Nakamitsu, the U.N. Under-Secretary General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs. On behalf of the group, Hiroki Yamaguchi and Kazushi Tanimoto, second-year students from Shudo High School, handed Ms. Nakamitsu a list of about 120,000 signatures that they had collected since last April. Ms. Nakamitsu encouraged the students’s efforts by saying, “I hope you will continue to think about how you can make the world a safer place for you, your children, and your grandchildren.”
(Originally published on May 2, 2019)
