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High school students from Japan, U.S., and Russia discuss nuclear disarmament at Hiroshima Jogakuin High School

by Yumi Kanazaki, Staff Writer

An international conference called “The Critical Issues Forum” opened at Hiroshima Jogakuin Junior & Senior High School in Naka Ward on April 2. High school students from the United States and Russia, both nuclear weapon states, as well as Japan made presentations in English on nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation issues.

The forum, launched in 1998 by the Middlebury Institute of International Study in Monterey, California, aims to promote education for disarmament and nonproliferation and has been held every year since then. This year’s conference, jointly hosted by Hiroshima Jogakuin Junior & Senior High School, was the first such gathering held in Japan, 70 years after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Students from seven American high schools, two Russian high schools, and five Japanese high schools, including Yasuda Girls High School in Naka Ward, are participating in the event.

This year’s theme, “Nuclear Disarmament and Humanitarian Approaches,” reflects the international trend to advance the abolition of nuclear arms from the perspective of the inhumane nature of these weapons. Each school offers a presentation, making ample use of slides and images, to share their thorough research.

From Hiroshima Jogakuin Senior High School, five students including Yuna Murakami, 17, took the stage. The students performed skits, in fluent English, to demonstrate conflicting opinions over measures to reduce nuclear weapons among nuclear powers and countries and citizens that are actively seeking the abolition of nuclear weapons. They also described the school’s history where more than 300 students and teachers fell victim to the atomic bomb and expressed concern that “in the international debate over nuclear weapons, the question of what if a nuclear weapon were actually used tends to be left out of the discussion.”

Akari Takesato, 17, explained after the presentation, “We tried to make sure that all the participants realize that the inhumane nature of nuclear weapons should be considered as their own individual problem. We devised the scenarios and the framework on our own, but in preparing the presentation, the knowledge accumulated through the school’s peace education program was really helpful.”

On the first day of the conference, students from nine high schools gave presentations. On the second day, April 3, students from five other schools, including Yasuda Girls High School, will take the stage.

(Originally published on April 3, 2015)

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