The "World Children's Peace Statue," erected through the fundraising efforts of high school students in Hiroshima, was unveiled on August 6 in front of the Hiroshima Municipal Baseball Stadium in Naka Ward. The students raised 7 million yen by collecting contributions on the streets. The new generation is working together to send a message for peace.

The theme of the statue is "parent-child love." The work consists of large and small statues representing two adults holding hands and a child running toward them.

About 300 middle and high-school students who were on the construction committee attended the unveiling ceremony. Junpei Teraoka (17) of Nishi-kaniya, Minami Ward, a senior at Sotoku High School, called out to "hand down the A-bomb experience to the next generation and appeal for nuclear abolition." Eight students unveiled the statue.

The movement to erect the statue started with an appeal from American elementary school students in 1996 to "erect peace statues all over the world." The American children had erected a sister statue to the "Children's Peace Monument." High school students in Hiroshima began collecting contributions on the streets in 1998.

A freshman at Yasuda Girls' High School who lives in Kuba, Otake, said, "I participated with a question, 'What is peace?' I found out that peace is what you achieve through your own actions."

[Caption] "World Children's Peace Statue," unveiled by high school students.