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Fifth-graders from Hiroshima International School visit Peace Memorial Museum

by Toshiko Bajo, Staff Writer

Students from Hiroshima International School visited Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and other peace-related facilities on March 27. The fifth-grade class, composed of pupils from five different countries (Japan, the U.S., India, Serbia, and Austria), learned about the history behind the dropping of the atomic bomb and the damage caused by radiation.

Their visit to Peace Memorial Park was part of an eight-week research project with the theme “Hiroshima as a Symbol of Peace.” In making a list of peace symbols, the group of 17 students examined the folded paper cranes offered to a monument in the park and studied exhibits inside the museum, including a watch which had stopped at 8:15a.m., the exact moment of the bomb's explosion. They also visited Hiroshima National Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims and were shocked by the large number of photographs of the dead. “Children of my age also died,” they exclaimed.

In the afternoon, the class visited the Hiroshima Peace Media Center at the Chugoku Shimbun and learned about past news coverage of the atomic bombing and the company's initiative to transmit peace-related news domestically and globally through a new website.

Lina Petrovic, 11, from Austria, said, “I was really surprised to hear about diseases caused by radiation. I want to tell my family and my friends what I learned today so we can create a more peaceful world.”

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