Hiroshima Peace Media Center marks fifth anniversary: Conveying Hiroshima’s message to the world
Jan. 15, 2013
by Tomomitsu Miyazaki, Rie Nii and Sakiko Masuda, Staff Writers
January 1 marked the fifth anniversary of the Chugoku Shimbun’s establishment of its Hiroshima Peace Media Center (HPMC). Via its website, the center conveys to the world the call for “No More Hiroshimas,” which is based on the city’s experience as the victim of an atomic bombing. The center has also made an effort to pass on the A-bombing experience to the next generation.
Enthusiastic response to message of Hiroshima
The Japanese and English websites of the HPMC were set up soon after the center was established to provide information on the atomic bombing, peace and nuclear-related issues to people in Japan and overseas. It is an attempt to get one step closer to a world without nuclear weapons or war by spreading the message of Hiroshima in English via the Internet.
This may seem like an unusually grandiose effort for a local newspaper. But as a Hiroshima-based paper that lost 114 employees, about one third of its staff at the time, to the atomic bombing, it is also the paper’s mission. One of the company’s mottos is: “Building world peace.”
More than 67 years after the atomic bombing, there are nearly 20,000 nuclear weapons in the world, and the harmful effects of nuclear tests and accidents at nuclear power plants remain a serious problem. Terrorism and conflicts continue. It is for these reasons that we would like to continue to convey the message of Hiroshima, taking advantage of our years of coverage of the atomic bombing, peace and nuclear-related issues.
The HPMC site carries news articles and opinion pieces as well as photographs documenting the A-bombing. People in nearly 160 countries and territories around the world have accessed the site.
To mark its fifth anniversary, the center will further expand its site and its coverage in the paper. While conveying the message of Hiroshima to people around the world, the HPMC will work to pass on its mission to the next generation.
Comments on the site from overseas
Ann Sherif, professor at Oberlin College, United States
The Hiroshima Peace Media Center website connects readers around the world with Hiroshima in so many important ways.
As an educator, I value the videos of hibakusha’s presentations about their experiences because my American college students can see and hear their dedication and passion as they communicate the lessons they’ve learned. Their voices encourage my students to think more seriously about the human costs of nuclear weapons, and to study the international history of the bomb, warfare, and technology. Whether my students grew up in the U.S., China, Korea, Japan, or Germany, they all find the articles and photographs on the website incredibly accessible and eye opening!
As a scholar who does research on Japanese literature and modern history, the website points me to interesting people and useful resources concerning nuclear issues, and it’s also an important window on what’s happening in Japan today. I find especially meaningful the “Hiroshima and Fukushima” series, and am impressed to learn of the many efforts of experts and ordinary citizens in the Chugoku region to support people affected by the Fukushima disaster.
As a voter in the state of Ohio and an American citizen, I read the website regularly so that I can stay informed about nuclear weapons, radiation, and nuclear energy happenings around the world. The U.S. press does not cover these issues much—which is strange for a country with a huge nuclear arsenal and still heavily dependent on nuclear energy. Thanks to the Peace Media website, I am better informed and more confident when I go to the polls to vote, write letters to my U.S. senator, congresswoman, and President Obama, and talk with my neighbors and colleagues about these issues.
My heartiest congratulations on the Fifth Anniversary!
John Simpson, 21, college student, United States
I absolutely love Peace Seeds. I view it as several individuals collectively working toward a goal greater than themselves. Personally, I believe that such an action is the most meaningful and beautiful thing that we as humans can do. Love each other, provide for each other, and forgive those who have committed wrong no matter how difficult it may be. Peace Seeds demonstrates all of these characteristics, and it really gives me hope because it reminds me that there are still people in the world (younger people, especially) who are passionate about the idea and practice of peace.
Honestly, having our Skype discussions will remain the highlight of that class, that year, and possibly my entire college career. I will always say the Peace Communication with Dr. Coleman is my favorite class. It was really wonderful and educational to hear what people from a different culture (especially students so strongly passionate about peace) had to offer, as well as comparing and contrasting our lifestyles in the United States and Japan. I think that's what a real learning experience is all about: Gaining a perspective that isn't our own. I greatly admire Dr. Coleman, everybody in our class, and everybody we had the fortune to speak with.
There isn't a thing that I would change about Peace Seeds. Especially the survivor reports. One thing that definitely stood out to me was the great disparity in attitudes of Americans and the individuals who write for Peace Seeds. Here in the United States, it is very unfortunate that the primary reaction is violence. As Dr. Coleman taught us, redemptive violence is a myth. It simply is an unacceptable course of action. It really saddens me that people in America can be so cold-blooded sometimes. One thing that really struck me and spoke to me about the survivor reports, was that there wasn't a single mention of an aggressive response. They all seemed to be grateful to be alive, and never wished to harm the aggressor for the sake of retaliation.
Josefina Delgado, city official, Buenos Aires, Argentina
There’s so much news on the site, it’s like a library. I respect the site for continuing to send out news on peace. If there was a Spanish version, it would make it easier for people in Latin America to access the site.
Sharapiya Kakimova, 41, instructor, Chile
Before going to Japan, I met one Japanese expert working in Kazakhstan who told me that a visit to Japan wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t visit Hiroshima. Only after visiting the city, and its Peace Memorial Museum and Peace Park, did I understand what the expert meant. After that, I lived in Hiroshima for almost nine years and I fell in love with the city, not just its beauty, but even more so, its energy and spirit: never before I had met so many people in one place who were dedicating their daily activities to building peace and promoting understanding between people. That spirit became a part of me, too, and since leaving Japan in 2009, I have continued to promote Hiroshima’s legacy in southern Chile by giving lectures about Hiroshima at local educational institutions and by involving local organizations in Hiroshima-related projects. The Hiroshima Peace Media Center became one of my main sources of information about Hiroshima, in the past and present, and helped keep me abreast of peace-related activities. For me, though, the most important part of the site are the video testimonies of the A-bomb survivors—they give me motivation to continue being involved in all that Hiroshima represents for me: peace, the capacity to forgive yet not forget, and the will to live. The Hiroshima Peace Media Center is a great initiative and I hope it will continue its work for many years to come.
Li Wei, 25, company employee, China
I would like the site to post not only photos taken just after the atomic bombing but also lots of photos of today’s rebuilt Hiroshima. I think this would give the people who see the photos a sense of hope. Children are the leaders of the world’s future. I think it would be a good idea to hold a contest for drawings related to the atomic bombing and peace and tell about it on the site. I would like you to convey the feelings on war and peace of the children who draw the pictures.
Tim Wright 27, coordinator with an international anti-nuclear organization, Australia
Over the past five years, the Hiroshima Peace Media Center has been an indispensable source of information about peace and disarmament activities in Japan and beyond. The articles published on the English website are widely read and shared throughout the world. They remind us of the horrific effects of nuclear weapons and inspire us to work together for a more peaceful future.
Through the testimonies of survivors of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, we can learn of the physical and emotional trauma endured on a daily basis by so many people, even to this day. Through the articles showcasing ordinary citizens’ efforts to abolish nuclear weapons, we can appreciate that small groups of committed individuals are capable of making an enormous difference.
Unlike so many other media outlets, the Hiroshima Peace Media Center pays special attention to grassroots education and mobilization work, recognizing that this is the foundation for a better world. The Center provides a forum for analysis and comment from a diverse range of international experts and opinion shapers, including those willing to criticize and challenge governments.
But perhaps the Center’s most important contribution has been its willingness to invest in the professional development of promising young journalists – fostering a keen interest in peace and nuclear issues and a belief that good journalism is not only informative, but can shape the world in which we live. I hope – and expect – that the Center will continue to flourish.
Nurdana Adylkhanova, 17, student, Kazakhstan
The people of the world must join hands and work to build a peaceful future. The HPMC site is conveying the importance of learning about peace to many people. We must not repeat the tragedies of Kazakhstan, where people have suffered from the effects of nuclear testing, or of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where atomic bombs were dropped. Last summer young people from Kazakhstan and Hiroshima held a peace forum, and they are cooperating on other efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons. This kind of relationship is one step toward a peaceful future. It is featured on the HPMC site, so I would like lots of people to know about it.
David Mellan, 37, corporate treasurer, France
Back in 1999, while I was taking a two-month internship at Matsushita Denko (in Kadoma, Osaka), I was given a few days off during the Obon vacation.
I took the opportunity to travel to Hiroshima and see several friends that I had met while studying English in Oxford several years before. During my first afternoon there, I visited the Peace Memorial Museum. And a few hours later, one of my friend introduced me to her mother: I discovered that she was a Hibakusha, and she inquired as to why the French government (as late as 1996) had been conducting nuclear tests. While several arguments to justify those tests—such as the danger of Libya or Iran developing weapons of mass destruction within striking distance of Europe—seemed rather sound while being expressed in a geopolitical or strategic debate, talking with someone who had lived through the horror and destruction of a nuclear bomb put everything into a whole new perspective.
The discussion was indeed extremely challenging and interesting, and made a long-lasting impression. And several years later (on top of several trips I took in the meantime to the Hiroshima Peace Park as well as the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum), I made the habit of visiting the Hiroshima Peace Media Center website on a quarterly basis.
The first articles I read were particularly absorbing, as they shed a new light on the events that many students around the world read about: it may be usual for Japanese to go through books with collected testimonies about the atomic bomb, but in places such as Western Europe, it is not so common. Therefore, the deeply personal words of each witness brought everything into a more human dimension and transformed a concept into an all-too-hard reality.
In the following months and years, there were several series that were particularly interesting, such as the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates. Once again, the Hiroshima Peace Media Center website enabled all those exchanges to be given a broader audience.
Even though I am afraid that it will still be decades before global powers may seriously consider getting rid of all nuclear armaments (given the recent developments in various “hot spots” around the world), the Hiroshima Peace Media Center website will be an efficient advocate for this commendable goal, and serve as a beacon of hope during this period.
Musie Hailu, 41, official of a non-profit organization, Ethiopia
Greetings of peace, light and blessing from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
On the occasion of the 5th anniversary of the Hiroshima Peace Media Center, to be marked in January, I congratulate all of you for your hard work in promoting a culture of peace and calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons. As citizens of the world, all of us need to work together more than ever, hand in hand, to create a nuclear-free world and in this effort such a media outlet plays a major role.
I am thrilled to learn about the Hiroshima Peace Media Center, which has been established by the Chugoku Shimbun, Hiroshima's daily newspaper, to advance the abolition of nuclear weapons and a broader peace in the world. I congratulate the Chugoku Shimbun for taking the initiative to establish the only media agency dedicated exclusively to the coverage of peace-related concerns. This is a great contribution to the world toward a peaceful and nuclear-free world. I found the site to offer good information on the issue of nuclear weapons.
The only comment I have is to add more information about the different peace organizations which are based in Hiroshima and other parts of the world which are working to abolish nuclear weapons and to build a culture of peace. It would also be better to have more links to different peace organizations.
I look forward to working closely with you in the effort to promote a culture of peace and create a world free from nuclear weapons.
May Peace Prevail on Earth.
Joe Copeland, 64, journalist, United States
The Hiroshima Peace Media Center is an essential news source for anyone concerned about nuclear weapons. It provides a unique way for the world to learn about both the history of nuclear war and the continuing relevance of that history for policy decisions around the world.
The site is the best if not the only way for the rest of the world to keep up with the moral, ethical and policy lessons that Hiroshima has drawn from the United States’ atomic attacks of 1945. The center created a continuing way to provide Chugoku Shimbun’s superb coverage of all nuclear issues to the rest of the world. The articles, capably translated into very readable English from Chugoku Shimbun, provide a unique window into how to apply the thinking of Hiroshima to everything from the major powers’ military policies to the dangers posed by North Korea. And in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the paper’s news and opinion articles have provided outstanding analysis of the problems posed by depending on nuclear reactors for power generation.
Even for an American reader who has spent a number of months in Hiroshima over the years, Hiroshima Peace Media Center often provides the first news and commentary on U.S. actions. It happened again in December. A U.S. sub-nuclear test went virtually uncovered by U.S. media; the Hiroshima Peace Media Center provided the most credible coverage and commentary on the Obama administration’s action. Maybe it shouldn’t have been a surprise to someone who has repeatedly received important information and fresh perspectives about his own country from the Media Center, but it still was. And it was a reminder of why the Hiroshima Peace Media Center is a vital resource for those who hope to see peace and nuclear abolition.
Kate Dewes, 60, advisor on peace and disarmament, New Zealand
Congratulations to all those at Chugoku Shimbun who have produced the amazing Hiroshima Peace Media Centre website over the past five years! It is an incredible resource for citizens worldwide to be able to access information immediately about Hiroshima – before, during and after the atomic bombing. It is a virtual peace museum and library – and it is free, and easily accessible!
I have just spent hours scanning the riveting and heart-wrenching material on the site. This was only available in books, as posters and slides when I began teaching about Hiroshima nearly 40 years ago. I found hundreds of photos I have never seen before and read moving stories from hibakusha. I was inspired by the courage of the writers who challenged readers in their Feature articles covering a wide range of topics including the contentious use of depleted uranium weapons; the effects of the use of defoliants such as Agent Orange against ordinary Vietnamese citizens 50 years ago; the reopening of nuclear power plants post-Fukushima and the debate over whether Japan should manufacture its own nuclear weapons.
As a survivor of over 12,000 earthquakes in Christchurch over the past two years, I understand how important it is to catalogue the stories of those most affected by devastating events. The stories you have collected 65 years later from the young school children will move and inspire future generations about the resilience, courage and strong spirits of the survivors. The stories about the rapid growth of Mayors for Peace and the actions taken by young people today to support nuclear abolition, are also inspiring and will also move people to take action.
I was particularly pleased to read about the former Mayor of Hiroshima, Takashi Hiraoka whose testimony I heard when he and Nagasaki Mayor Iccho Ito presented at the World Court hearings in 1995. Thank you for documenting these vital stories and making them accessible in English. As fewer hibakusha are available to travel the world to share their stories first hand, these resources can still be used in classrooms, by the media and peace museums everywhere.
1. United States
2. Canada
3. Great Britain
4. South Korea
5. Germany
(Originally published on January 1, 2013)
January 1 marked the fifth anniversary of the Chugoku Shimbun’s establishment of its Hiroshima Peace Media Center (HPMC). Via its website, the center conveys to the world the call for “No More Hiroshimas,” which is based on the city’s experience as the victim of an atomic bombing. The center has also made an effort to pass on the A-bombing experience to the next generation.
Enthusiastic response to message of Hiroshima
The Japanese and English websites of the HPMC were set up soon after the center was established to provide information on the atomic bombing, peace and nuclear-related issues to people in Japan and overseas. It is an attempt to get one step closer to a world without nuclear weapons or war by spreading the message of Hiroshima in English via the Internet.
This may seem like an unusually grandiose effort for a local newspaper. But as a Hiroshima-based paper that lost 114 employees, about one third of its staff at the time, to the atomic bombing, it is also the paper’s mission. One of the company’s mottos is: “Building world peace.”
More than 67 years after the atomic bombing, there are nearly 20,000 nuclear weapons in the world, and the harmful effects of nuclear tests and accidents at nuclear power plants remain a serious problem. Terrorism and conflicts continue. It is for these reasons that we would like to continue to convey the message of Hiroshima, taking advantage of our years of coverage of the atomic bombing, peace and nuclear-related issues.
The HPMC site carries news articles and opinion pieces as well as photographs documenting the A-bombing. People in nearly 160 countries and territories around the world have accessed the site.
To mark its fifth anniversary, the center will further expand its site and its coverage in the paper. While conveying the message of Hiroshima to people around the world, the HPMC will work to pass on its mission to the next generation.
Comments on the site from overseas
Ann Sherif, professor at Oberlin College, United States
The Hiroshima Peace Media Center website connects readers around the world with Hiroshima in so many important ways.
As an educator, I value the videos of hibakusha’s presentations about their experiences because my American college students can see and hear their dedication and passion as they communicate the lessons they’ve learned. Their voices encourage my students to think more seriously about the human costs of nuclear weapons, and to study the international history of the bomb, warfare, and technology. Whether my students grew up in the U.S., China, Korea, Japan, or Germany, they all find the articles and photographs on the website incredibly accessible and eye opening!
As a scholar who does research on Japanese literature and modern history, the website points me to interesting people and useful resources concerning nuclear issues, and it’s also an important window on what’s happening in Japan today. I find especially meaningful the “Hiroshima and Fukushima” series, and am impressed to learn of the many efforts of experts and ordinary citizens in the Chugoku region to support people affected by the Fukushima disaster.
As a voter in the state of Ohio and an American citizen, I read the website regularly so that I can stay informed about nuclear weapons, radiation, and nuclear energy happenings around the world. The U.S. press does not cover these issues much—which is strange for a country with a huge nuclear arsenal and still heavily dependent on nuclear energy. Thanks to the Peace Media website, I am better informed and more confident when I go to the polls to vote, write letters to my U.S. senator, congresswoman, and President Obama, and talk with my neighbors and colleagues about these issues.
My heartiest congratulations on the Fifth Anniversary!
John Simpson, 21, college student, United States
I absolutely love Peace Seeds. I view it as several individuals collectively working toward a goal greater than themselves. Personally, I believe that such an action is the most meaningful and beautiful thing that we as humans can do. Love each other, provide for each other, and forgive those who have committed wrong no matter how difficult it may be. Peace Seeds demonstrates all of these characteristics, and it really gives me hope because it reminds me that there are still people in the world (younger people, especially) who are passionate about the idea and practice of peace.
Honestly, having our Skype discussions will remain the highlight of that class, that year, and possibly my entire college career. I will always say the Peace Communication with Dr. Coleman is my favorite class. It was really wonderful and educational to hear what people from a different culture (especially students so strongly passionate about peace) had to offer, as well as comparing and contrasting our lifestyles in the United States and Japan. I think that's what a real learning experience is all about: Gaining a perspective that isn't our own. I greatly admire Dr. Coleman, everybody in our class, and everybody we had the fortune to speak with.
There isn't a thing that I would change about Peace Seeds. Especially the survivor reports. One thing that definitely stood out to me was the great disparity in attitudes of Americans and the individuals who write for Peace Seeds. Here in the United States, it is very unfortunate that the primary reaction is violence. As Dr. Coleman taught us, redemptive violence is a myth. It simply is an unacceptable course of action. It really saddens me that people in America can be so cold-blooded sometimes. One thing that really struck me and spoke to me about the survivor reports, was that there wasn't a single mention of an aggressive response. They all seemed to be grateful to be alive, and never wished to harm the aggressor for the sake of retaliation.
Josefina Delgado, city official, Buenos Aires, Argentina
There’s so much news on the site, it’s like a library. I respect the site for continuing to send out news on peace. If there was a Spanish version, it would make it easier for people in Latin America to access the site.
Sharapiya Kakimova, 41, instructor, Chile
Before going to Japan, I met one Japanese expert working in Kazakhstan who told me that a visit to Japan wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t visit Hiroshima. Only after visiting the city, and its Peace Memorial Museum and Peace Park, did I understand what the expert meant. After that, I lived in Hiroshima for almost nine years and I fell in love with the city, not just its beauty, but even more so, its energy and spirit: never before I had met so many people in one place who were dedicating their daily activities to building peace and promoting understanding between people. That spirit became a part of me, too, and since leaving Japan in 2009, I have continued to promote Hiroshima’s legacy in southern Chile by giving lectures about Hiroshima at local educational institutions and by involving local organizations in Hiroshima-related projects. The Hiroshima Peace Media Center became one of my main sources of information about Hiroshima, in the past and present, and helped keep me abreast of peace-related activities. For me, though, the most important part of the site are the video testimonies of the A-bomb survivors—they give me motivation to continue being involved in all that Hiroshima represents for me: peace, the capacity to forgive yet not forget, and the will to live. The Hiroshima Peace Media Center is a great initiative and I hope it will continue its work for many years to come.
Li Wei, 25, company employee, China
I would like the site to post not only photos taken just after the atomic bombing but also lots of photos of today’s rebuilt Hiroshima. I think this would give the people who see the photos a sense of hope. Children are the leaders of the world’s future. I think it would be a good idea to hold a contest for drawings related to the atomic bombing and peace and tell about it on the site. I would like you to convey the feelings on war and peace of the children who draw the pictures.
Tim Wright 27, coordinator with an international anti-nuclear organization, Australia
Over the past five years, the Hiroshima Peace Media Center has been an indispensable source of information about peace and disarmament activities in Japan and beyond. The articles published on the English website are widely read and shared throughout the world. They remind us of the horrific effects of nuclear weapons and inspire us to work together for a more peaceful future.
Through the testimonies of survivors of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, we can learn of the physical and emotional trauma endured on a daily basis by so many people, even to this day. Through the articles showcasing ordinary citizens’ efforts to abolish nuclear weapons, we can appreciate that small groups of committed individuals are capable of making an enormous difference.
Unlike so many other media outlets, the Hiroshima Peace Media Center pays special attention to grassroots education and mobilization work, recognizing that this is the foundation for a better world. The Center provides a forum for analysis and comment from a diverse range of international experts and opinion shapers, including those willing to criticize and challenge governments.
But perhaps the Center’s most important contribution has been its willingness to invest in the professional development of promising young journalists – fostering a keen interest in peace and nuclear issues and a belief that good journalism is not only informative, but can shape the world in which we live. I hope – and expect – that the Center will continue to flourish.
Nurdana Adylkhanova, 17, student, Kazakhstan
The people of the world must join hands and work to build a peaceful future. The HPMC site is conveying the importance of learning about peace to many people. We must not repeat the tragedies of Kazakhstan, where people have suffered from the effects of nuclear testing, or of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where atomic bombs were dropped. Last summer young people from Kazakhstan and Hiroshima held a peace forum, and they are cooperating on other efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons. This kind of relationship is one step toward a peaceful future. It is featured on the HPMC site, so I would like lots of people to know about it.
David Mellan, 37, corporate treasurer, France
Back in 1999, while I was taking a two-month internship at Matsushita Denko (in Kadoma, Osaka), I was given a few days off during the Obon vacation.
I took the opportunity to travel to Hiroshima and see several friends that I had met while studying English in Oxford several years before. During my first afternoon there, I visited the Peace Memorial Museum. And a few hours later, one of my friend introduced me to her mother: I discovered that she was a Hibakusha, and she inquired as to why the French government (as late as 1996) had been conducting nuclear tests. While several arguments to justify those tests—such as the danger of Libya or Iran developing weapons of mass destruction within striking distance of Europe—seemed rather sound while being expressed in a geopolitical or strategic debate, talking with someone who had lived through the horror and destruction of a nuclear bomb put everything into a whole new perspective.
The discussion was indeed extremely challenging and interesting, and made a long-lasting impression. And several years later (on top of several trips I took in the meantime to the Hiroshima Peace Park as well as the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum), I made the habit of visiting the Hiroshima Peace Media Center website on a quarterly basis.
The first articles I read were particularly absorbing, as they shed a new light on the events that many students around the world read about: it may be usual for Japanese to go through books with collected testimonies about the atomic bomb, but in places such as Western Europe, it is not so common. Therefore, the deeply personal words of each witness brought everything into a more human dimension and transformed a concept into an all-too-hard reality.
In the following months and years, there were several series that were particularly interesting, such as the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates. Once again, the Hiroshima Peace Media Center website enabled all those exchanges to be given a broader audience.
Even though I am afraid that it will still be decades before global powers may seriously consider getting rid of all nuclear armaments (given the recent developments in various “hot spots” around the world), the Hiroshima Peace Media Center website will be an efficient advocate for this commendable goal, and serve as a beacon of hope during this period.
Musie Hailu, 41, official of a non-profit organization, Ethiopia
Greetings of peace, light and blessing from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
On the occasion of the 5th anniversary of the Hiroshima Peace Media Center, to be marked in January, I congratulate all of you for your hard work in promoting a culture of peace and calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons. As citizens of the world, all of us need to work together more than ever, hand in hand, to create a nuclear-free world and in this effort such a media outlet plays a major role.
I am thrilled to learn about the Hiroshima Peace Media Center, which has been established by the Chugoku Shimbun, Hiroshima's daily newspaper, to advance the abolition of nuclear weapons and a broader peace in the world. I congratulate the Chugoku Shimbun for taking the initiative to establish the only media agency dedicated exclusively to the coverage of peace-related concerns. This is a great contribution to the world toward a peaceful and nuclear-free world. I found the site to offer good information on the issue of nuclear weapons.
The only comment I have is to add more information about the different peace organizations which are based in Hiroshima and other parts of the world which are working to abolish nuclear weapons and to build a culture of peace. It would also be better to have more links to different peace organizations.
I look forward to working closely with you in the effort to promote a culture of peace and create a world free from nuclear weapons.
May Peace Prevail on Earth.
Joe Copeland, 64, journalist, United States
The Hiroshima Peace Media Center is an essential news source for anyone concerned about nuclear weapons. It provides a unique way for the world to learn about both the history of nuclear war and the continuing relevance of that history for policy decisions around the world.
The site is the best if not the only way for the rest of the world to keep up with the moral, ethical and policy lessons that Hiroshima has drawn from the United States’ atomic attacks of 1945. The center created a continuing way to provide Chugoku Shimbun’s superb coverage of all nuclear issues to the rest of the world. The articles, capably translated into very readable English from Chugoku Shimbun, provide a unique window into how to apply the thinking of Hiroshima to everything from the major powers’ military policies to the dangers posed by North Korea. And in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the paper’s news and opinion articles have provided outstanding analysis of the problems posed by depending on nuclear reactors for power generation.
Even for an American reader who has spent a number of months in Hiroshima over the years, Hiroshima Peace Media Center often provides the first news and commentary on U.S. actions. It happened again in December. A U.S. sub-nuclear test went virtually uncovered by U.S. media; the Hiroshima Peace Media Center provided the most credible coverage and commentary on the Obama administration’s action. Maybe it shouldn’t have been a surprise to someone who has repeatedly received important information and fresh perspectives about his own country from the Media Center, but it still was. And it was a reminder of why the Hiroshima Peace Media Center is a vital resource for those who hope to see peace and nuclear abolition.
Kate Dewes, 60, advisor on peace and disarmament, New Zealand
Congratulations to all those at Chugoku Shimbun who have produced the amazing Hiroshima Peace Media Centre website over the past five years! It is an incredible resource for citizens worldwide to be able to access information immediately about Hiroshima – before, during and after the atomic bombing. It is a virtual peace museum and library – and it is free, and easily accessible!
I have just spent hours scanning the riveting and heart-wrenching material on the site. This was only available in books, as posters and slides when I began teaching about Hiroshima nearly 40 years ago. I found hundreds of photos I have never seen before and read moving stories from hibakusha. I was inspired by the courage of the writers who challenged readers in their Feature articles covering a wide range of topics including the contentious use of depleted uranium weapons; the effects of the use of defoliants such as Agent Orange against ordinary Vietnamese citizens 50 years ago; the reopening of nuclear power plants post-Fukushima and the debate over whether Japan should manufacture its own nuclear weapons.
As a survivor of over 12,000 earthquakes in Christchurch over the past two years, I understand how important it is to catalogue the stories of those most affected by devastating events. The stories you have collected 65 years later from the young school children will move and inspire future generations about the resilience, courage and strong spirits of the survivors. The stories about the rapid growth of Mayors for Peace and the actions taken by young people today to support nuclear abolition, are also inspiring and will also move people to take action.
I was particularly pleased to read about the former Mayor of Hiroshima, Takashi Hiraoka whose testimony I heard when he and Nagasaki Mayor Iccho Ito presented at the World Court hearings in 1995. Thank you for documenting these vital stories and making them accessible in English. As fewer hibakusha are available to travel the world to share their stories first hand, these resources can still be used in classrooms, by the media and peace museums everywhere.
Top Five Countries Accessing the HPMC Site (except for Japan)
(January 1 through December 28, 2012. Checked using Google.)1. United States
2. Canada
3. Great Britain
4. South Korea
5. Germany
(Originally published on January 1, 2013)