A-bomb exhibition stirs flow of tears
May 10, 2010
by Kohei Okata, Staff Writer, dispatched from New York
Not a single day passes without tears being shed at the A-bomb exhibition organized by the Japan Confederation of A- and H-bomb Sufferers Organization and now running on the first floor of United Nations Headquarters in New York.
Listening to two A-bomb survivors, both women, relate their experiences, an American woman and her daughter repeatedly wiped away tears. The Japanese interpreter translated their accounts in a quivering voice. With photographs which clearly depict the devastation and the survivors conveying their wishes for peace, everyone in proximity is moved.
One uplifting story involves Sueichi Kido, 70, the assistant secretary general of the organization. He was taking a taxi and he told the taxi driver that he was an A-bomb survivor and had come to the United States to appeal for the elimination of nuclear weapons. The Pakistani driver replied, "I would like to contribute to the cause of peace, too." He declined to accept the fare of 20 dollars.
Between gathering these news stories, I have listened to the proceedings at the NPT Review Conference. The speeches made by representatives of national governments, which reflect keen diplomatic implications, sound calculated and dry. They do not show the spirit needed to sincerely mull the memories of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and fulfill the wish for nuclear abolition.
Mr. Kido will stay in the United States until the end of the exhibition, which coincides with the close of the conference on May 28. I hope the government delegates will pay close heed to the survivors and ponder the misery, not the power, that nuclear weapons produce.
(Originally published on May 8, 2010)
Related articles
Visitors to A-bomb exhibition in New York are struck speechless (May 7, 2010)
NPT Review Conference opens in New York: Path toward nuclear disarmament to be explored (May 6, 2010)
Not a single day passes without tears being shed at the A-bomb exhibition organized by the Japan Confederation of A- and H-bomb Sufferers Organization and now running on the first floor of United Nations Headquarters in New York.
Listening to two A-bomb survivors, both women, relate their experiences, an American woman and her daughter repeatedly wiped away tears. The Japanese interpreter translated their accounts in a quivering voice. With photographs which clearly depict the devastation and the survivors conveying their wishes for peace, everyone in proximity is moved.
One uplifting story involves Sueichi Kido, 70, the assistant secretary general of the organization. He was taking a taxi and he told the taxi driver that he was an A-bomb survivor and had come to the United States to appeal for the elimination of nuclear weapons. The Pakistani driver replied, "I would like to contribute to the cause of peace, too." He declined to accept the fare of 20 dollars.
Between gathering these news stories, I have listened to the proceedings at the NPT Review Conference. The speeches made by representatives of national governments, which reflect keen diplomatic implications, sound calculated and dry. They do not show the spirit needed to sincerely mull the memories of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and fulfill the wish for nuclear abolition.
Mr. Kido will stay in the United States until the end of the exhibition, which coincides with the close of the conference on May 28. I hope the government delegates will pay close heed to the survivors and ponder the misery, not the power, that nuclear weapons produce.
(Originally published on May 8, 2010)
Related articles
Visitors to A-bomb exhibition in New York are struck speechless (May 7, 2010)
NPT Review Conference opens in New York: Path toward nuclear disarmament to be explored (May 6, 2010)
