News

by Minami Yamashita, Staff Writer

A new training program for people who wish to convey A-bomb experiences began July 5 at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum in the city’s Naka Ward. Ninety-one trainees will spend one to two years learning about the damage caused by the atomic bombing and how to deliver their accounts during this program provided by the City of Hiroshima.

Trainees include five A-bomb survivors in their 80s and 90s from Hiroshima Prefecture who will share their own experiences of the atomic bombing. There are 23 “Family A-bomb Legacy Successors,” who are children or grandchildren in their 20s to 60s from four prefectures, and 67 third-party “A-bomb Legacy Successors” in their teens to 80s from nine prefectures and the United States. Four of them belong to more than one group. On the first day of the training, about 60 participants listened to curators at the museum give an overview of the atomic bomb damage and life during the war.

Yoko Hoshino, 51, a speech therapist originally from Hiroshima’s Asakita Ward and now a resident of Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture, aspires to become an A-bomb Legacy Successor. “I felt people outside Hiroshima prefecture did not know much about the atomic bombing, so I wanted to tell people about it. First, I want to deepen my knowledge through this training,” she said.

Trainees will attend six sessions of classroom lectures until October. Then they will have a series of practical training exercises writing drafts of their speeches and delivering them. After completing training, they will begin giving lectures to tourists and students on school trips. Mitsuru Nishida, head of the division charged with handing down the A-bomb experiences to younger generations, said, “This project is supported by the enthusiasm of the citizens. We hope to make effective use of the time left for A-bomb survivors and pass on their experiences and thoughts to future generations.”

(Originally published on July 6, 2024)