American students guided by Japanese students in visit to Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park
Jul. 29, 2016
by Shinji Morito, Staff Writer
With the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima drawing near, 20 students from the United States toured the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park with local Japanese students on July 28 and shared their wish for peace with one another.
Two third-year students at Notre Dame Seishin Senior High School and one junior at International Christian University, who graduated from Hiroshima Jogakuin High School, guided the American students. Following the route U.S. President Barack Obama took during his visit in May, they toured the A-bomb Dome and other monuments. Lukas Orjales, 18, from Virginia, and two other students offered more than a thousand paper cranes to the Children’s Peace Monument.
Yuko Nakamoto, 17, of Notre Dame Seishin Senior High School said, “I hope they will tell their families and their friends what they saw and felt in Hiroshima after they return home.” Lain Elliot, 18, also from Virginia, said, “This visit to Hiroshima strengthened my view that the use of the A-bomb was wrong and my desire for the abolition of nuclear weapons.”
The 20 American students are visiting Japan through an international exchange program organized by the American International Group, a major American insurance company, with the aim of deepening mutual understanding between young people in Japan and the United States. The students also listened to Keiko Ogura, 78, talk about her experience of the atomic bombing in English at the Peace Memorial Museum.
(Originally published on July 29, 2016)
With the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima drawing near, 20 students from the United States toured the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park with local Japanese students on July 28 and shared their wish for peace with one another.
Two third-year students at Notre Dame Seishin Senior High School and one junior at International Christian University, who graduated from Hiroshima Jogakuin High School, guided the American students. Following the route U.S. President Barack Obama took during his visit in May, they toured the A-bomb Dome and other monuments. Lukas Orjales, 18, from Virginia, and two other students offered more than a thousand paper cranes to the Children’s Peace Monument.
Yuko Nakamoto, 17, of Notre Dame Seishin Senior High School said, “I hope they will tell their families and their friends what they saw and felt in Hiroshima after they return home.” Lain Elliot, 18, also from Virginia, said, “This visit to Hiroshima strengthened my view that the use of the A-bomb was wrong and my desire for the abolition of nuclear weapons.”
The 20 American students are visiting Japan through an international exchange program organized by the American International Group, a major American insurance company, with the aim of deepening mutual understanding between young people in Japan and the United States. The students also listened to Keiko Ogura, 78, talk about her experience of the atomic bombing in English at the Peace Memorial Museum.
(Originally published on July 29, 2016)
