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Eishin high school students interview anti-nuclear activist Haruko Moritaki, discuss plans to compile conversation into booklet

by Shuhei Inomata, Staff Writer

On June 12, students active in the human rights club at Eishin Junior/Senior High School (Senda-cho, Fukuyama City) conducted an online interview with Haruko Moritaki, 82, co-chair of the citizens’ group Hiroshima Alliance for Nuclear Weapons Abolition (HANWA). The students asked Ms. Moritaki about her thoughts regarding the anti-nuclear movement and her hopes for peace. They are now discussing whether to compile the interview into a booklet and translate the material into English.

Part of the human rights club’s work is to record A-bomb testimonies and activities designed to attain the goal of nuclear weapons abolition. The interview was the third in a series of meetings with Ms. Moritaki, initiated in late May, through Zoom, the web conferencing platform. Twenty-one members of the club listened intently to Ms. Moritaki speak while taking notes and asking questions.

Introducing visual images of the reality of radiation exposure from depleted-uranium ammunition in India and Iraq, where she herself conducted on-site surveys, Ms. Moritaki explained to the students the actual circumstances of nuclear damage throughout the world. The club members asked, “What do you think about Japan’s refusal to participate in the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.” She responded emphatically, “The power of nation states is needed to bring about the abolition of nuclear weapons. I’ve been frustrated, thinking ‘when will they come to their senses?’”

The meeting, initially scheduled for 30 minutes, was extended to two hours as the students repeatedly asked questions. “You are all serious young people with sound ideas,” said Ms. Moritaki with a smile on her face. Sakura Ito, 16, president of the club, discovered renewed determination from the event. “We want to continue communicating the horrors of nuclear weapons and expand to other people of our generation the circle of activity involving abolition of nuclear weapons.”

(Originally published on June 13, 2021)

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