Hiroshima citizens group mails A-bomb picture book to U.S. Ambassador to Japan
Apr. 4, 2022
by Yumi Kanazaki, Staff Writer
The Hiroshima City-based citizens group Children’s Library Linking Hiroshima and The World has sent by conventional mail a copy of the English translation of a picture book about the atomic bombing to U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel, who visited Hiroshima on March 26. The book, titled Hiroshima: A Tragedy Never to Be Repeated, was authored by Masamoto Nasu, illustrated by Shigeo Nishimura, and published by the Japanese company Fukuinkan Shoten.
Along with the book, Sachiko Shibata, 90, representative of the group and a resident of Hiroshima’s Asaminami Ward, sent a letter and paper cranes to the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo. “I want to acknowledge the ambassador for visiting the A-bombed city soon after taking up his post. Now, at a time in which Russia has invaded Ukraine and the threat of the use of nuclear weapons is on the rise, I hope that leaders of nuclear weapon states will make an effort to look at the book.”
The citizens group started its practice of sending picture books to different parts of the world in 1996, in hopes that people would understand the horror of the atomic bombings, even outside the framework of language. To this point in time, the group has sent out thousands of books, many of which are copies of Hiroshima: A Tragedy Never to Be Repeated by Mr. Nasu, an atomic bomb survivor who died last year.
According to Ms. Shibata, the group has received letters of appreciation from the former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy, and the Apostolic Nunciature in Japan, a diplomatic office of the Catholic Church in Tokyo, among others.
(Originally published on April 4, 2022)
The Hiroshima City-based citizens group Children’s Library Linking Hiroshima and The World has sent by conventional mail a copy of the English translation of a picture book about the atomic bombing to U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel, who visited Hiroshima on March 26. The book, titled Hiroshima: A Tragedy Never to Be Repeated, was authored by Masamoto Nasu, illustrated by Shigeo Nishimura, and published by the Japanese company Fukuinkan Shoten.
Along with the book, Sachiko Shibata, 90, representative of the group and a resident of Hiroshima’s Asaminami Ward, sent a letter and paper cranes to the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo. “I want to acknowledge the ambassador for visiting the A-bombed city soon after taking up his post. Now, at a time in which Russia has invaded Ukraine and the threat of the use of nuclear weapons is on the rise, I hope that leaders of nuclear weapon states will make an effort to look at the book.”
The citizens group started its practice of sending picture books to different parts of the world in 1996, in hopes that people would understand the horror of the atomic bombings, even outside the framework of language. To this point in time, the group has sent out thousands of books, many of which are copies of Hiroshima: A Tragedy Never to Be Repeated by Mr. Nasu, an atomic bomb survivor who died last year.
According to Ms. Shibata, the group has received letters of appreciation from the former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy, and the Apostolic Nunciature in Japan, a diplomatic office of the Catholic Church in Tokyo, among others.
(Originally published on April 4, 2022)
