Three high school peace ambassadors from Hiroshima Prefecture express determination to create peaceful world not reliant on nuclear deterrence
Jun. 9, 2022
by Yu Kawakami, Staff Writer
On June 8, at a press conference at Hiroshima City Hall, three students from schools in Hiroshima Prefecture who were selected to serve as high school peace ambassadors indicated their determination to communicate their wishes for peace. As the risk of use of nuclear weapons grows against the backdrop of the conflict in Ukraine, the students, along with 28 other peace ambassadors selected from across Japan, will deliver to the United Nations Office at Geneva, in Geneva, Switzerland, signatures collected from people joining in the call for the abolition of nuclear weapons.
The three students are Sara Arakawa, 17, a third-year student at Hiroshima Kokutaiji High School, located in the city’s Naka Ward; Izumi Okamoto, 16, a second-year student at Hiroshima Prefectural Hiroshima Junior/Senior High School, in Onomichi City; and Mayuka Nishikawa, a first-year student at Hiroshima University High School, Fukuyama, located in Fukuyama City. Ms. Arakawa moved to Hiroshima from Nagoya City when she entered high school. “I was shocked to learn about how high the awareness for peace was in Hiroshima. The threat [of nuclear weapons’ use] by Russia revealed that peace dependent on deterrence with nuclear weapons is fragile,” she stated emphatically.
Ms. Okamoto introduced the story of her great-grandfather, in whose body remained glass fragments from the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, stressing her desire to increase awareness of peace among young people of her generation. Ms. Nishikawa, a fourth-generation A-bomb survivor who had hoped to become a high school peace ambassador since she was in elementary school, conveyed her wish to “make the appeal that a peaceful world can be created even without nuclear weapons.”
The High School Peace Ambassador Dispatch Committee, a citizens’ group that operates in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, invited applications for the position from across Japan. Over the last two years, the dispatch of students to Geneva was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic. This fiscal year, 2022, marks the 25th anniversary of the peace ambassador activity. An inaugural meeting will be held in Hiroshima’s Nishi Ward on June 11 for the students scheduled to be sent this year to Geneva in August. Until now, more than two million signatures have been delivered to Geneva, and a 25th anniversary meeting is scheduled to be held in August in Nagasaki City, for which past high school student ambassadors will gather.
(Originally published on June 9, 2022)
On June 8, at a press conference at Hiroshima City Hall, three students from schools in Hiroshima Prefecture who were selected to serve as high school peace ambassadors indicated their determination to communicate their wishes for peace. As the risk of use of nuclear weapons grows against the backdrop of the conflict in Ukraine, the students, along with 28 other peace ambassadors selected from across Japan, will deliver to the United Nations Office at Geneva, in Geneva, Switzerland, signatures collected from people joining in the call for the abolition of nuclear weapons.
The three students are Sara Arakawa, 17, a third-year student at Hiroshima Kokutaiji High School, located in the city’s Naka Ward; Izumi Okamoto, 16, a second-year student at Hiroshima Prefectural Hiroshima Junior/Senior High School, in Onomichi City; and Mayuka Nishikawa, a first-year student at Hiroshima University High School, Fukuyama, located in Fukuyama City. Ms. Arakawa moved to Hiroshima from Nagoya City when she entered high school. “I was shocked to learn about how high the awareness for peace was in Hiroshima. The threat [of nuclear weapons’ use] by Russia revealed that peace dependent on deterrence with nuclear weapons is fragile,” she stated emphatically.
Ms. Okamoto introduced the story of her great-grandfather, in whose body remained glass fragments from the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, stressing her desire to increase awareness of peace among young people of her generation. Ms. Nishikawa, a fourth-generation A-bomb survivor who had hoped to become a high school peace ambassador since she was in elementary school, conveyed her wish to “make the appeal that a peaceful world can be created even without nuclear weapons.”
The High School Peace Ambassador Dispatch Committee, a citizens’ group that operates in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, invited applications for the position from across Japan. Over the last two years, the dispatch of students to Geneva was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic. This fiscal year, 2022, marks the 25th anniversary of the peace ambassador activity. An inaugural meeting will be held in Hiroshima’s Nishi Ward on June 11 for the students scheduled to be sent this year to Geneva in August. Until now, more than two million signatures have been delivered to Geneva, and a 25th anniversary meeting is scheduled to be held in August in Nagasaki City, for which past high school student ambassadors will gather.
(Originally published on June 9, 2022)
