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New chairperson of Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation will seek to advance momentum for nuclear abolition

(by Junji Akechi, Staff Writer)

The Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation announced on June 14 that the current chairperson Yasuyoshi Komizo, 71, will step down and that Takashi Koizumi, 68, will assume this post. At a press conference held at Hiroshima City Hall, Mr. Koizumi, formerly Japan’s ambassador to Bulgaria, said, “I hope to help advance momentum for the abolition of nuclear weapons by emphasizing activities involving culture and art.” In this way, the new chairperson will seek to get more young people interested in nuclear disarmament issues. The Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation, a public interest incorporated foundation, administers the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum.

Mr. Koizumi is the second former official from the Foreign Ministry to take up this post, following Mr. Komizo. The foundation held a meeting of councilors and directors and decided to make Mr. Koizumi the 10th chairperson, noting his extensive experience and character. He will begin serving as chairperson on July 16, and his two-year tenure will end in June 2021.

At the press conference, Mr. Koizumi spoke about his experiences as a diplomat in Bulgaria during the Cold War and in East Timor, which suffered domestic conflicts. He said, “It was inevitable that I would feel the preciousness of peace.” As to living and working in Hiroshima for the first time, he said, “The Peace Culture Foundation is a base for nuclear disarmament. It will be my pleasure if I can play a part in its work by making good use of my experience.”

He added, though, “I have never been directly involved in nuclear disarmament during my career. I have things to learn so I can be capable of carrying out this work.”

Mr. Komizo, who will step down on July 15, also spoke during the press conference. During his six-year service, he made efforts that included strengthening Mayors for Peace, an organization of cities around the world which seeks the abolition of nuclear weapons. Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui serves as the president of Mayors for Peace. Mr. Komizo said, “I have sought to find common ground through dialogue at the grassroots level to help overcome mutual distrust among nations.”

Originally from Tokyo, Mr. Koizumi graduated from the Tokyo University of Education (now the University of Tsukuba). He entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1976. He served in such posts as a counselor at the Japanese Embassy in East Timor and director of the ministry’s Local Partnership Cooperation Division before becoming the ambassador to Bulgaria, a post he departed in August 2016.

(Originally published on June 17, 2019)

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