Former director of Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum speaks at elementary school, his alma mater
Jul. 21, 2017
by Takahiro Yamase, Staff Writer
Minoru Haraguchi, 71, a former director of the Peace Memorial Museum in Naka Ward, Hiroshima and a resident of Hatsukaichi, spoke to students at Ono-higashi Elementary School in Hatsukaichi. Mr. Haraguchi, who experienced the atomic bombing while in his mother’s womb, is a graduate of the school. He shared the wish of the A-bomb survivors for a peaceful world and told around 290 fifth- and sixth-graders about his own experience of facing up to the atomic bombing.
Mr. Haraguchi was born in Miyajima-guchi in March 1946. He told the students that his father was killed in the atomic bombing on August 6, 1945 and that his mother, who was pregnant with him at the time, was exposed to residual radiation when entering the city center on the following day to look for her husband. He explained, “I hated the United States, the country that dropped the atomic bomb, until I was in my late 20s, because I felt bitter over the fact that I had to grow up without a father.”
He stressed however, that seeking revenge through violence would only lead to another war. He said, “Many of the A-bomb survivors have overcome their hatred of the U.S.” and he called on the students, who were listening keenly to his talk, to have sympathy for others because such feelings can create a more peaceful world.
Mr. Haraguchi served as the director of the museum for nine years, starting in 1997. He has long spoken to students visiting Hiroshima on school trips, but this was the first time that he spoke at his alma mater. He felt that these children, who live about 20 kilometers from the bomb’s hypocenter, should learn more about the bombing so they could feel a stronger connection to it. He thus proposed the idea to the school and the talk took place on July 19. Yuto Kurokawa, 11, a sixth-grader at the school, said, “It made me think that I need to cherish the peace we have, which enables me to live the life I have now.”
(Originally published on July 21, 2017)
Minoru Haraguchi, 71, a former director of the Peace Memorial Museum in Naka Ward, Hiroshima and a resident of Hatsukaichi, spoke to students at Ono-higashi Elementary School in Hatsukaichi. Mr. Haraguchi, who experienced the atomic bombing while in his mother’s womb, is a graduate of the school. He shared the wish of the A-bomb survivors for a peaceful world and told around 290 fifth- and sixth-graders about his own experience of facing up to the atomic bombing.
Mr. Haraguchi was born in Miyajima-guchi in March 1946. He told the students that his father was killed in the atomic bombing on August 6, 1945 and that his mother, who was pregnant with him at the time, was exposed to residual radiation when entering the city center on the following day to look for her husband. He explained, “I hated the United States, the country that dropped the atomic bomb, until I was in my late 20s, because I felt bitter over the fact that I had to grow up without a father.”
He stressed however, that seeking revenge through violence would only lead to another war. He said, “Many of the A-bomb survivors have overcome their hatred of the U.S.” and he called on the students, who were listening keenly to his talk, to have sympathy for others because such feelings can create a more peaceful world.
Mr. Haraguchi served as the director of the museum for nine years, starting in 1997. He has long spoken to students visiting Hiroshima on school trips, but this was the first time that he spoke at his alma mater. He felt that these children, who live about 20 kilometers from the bomb’s hypocenter, should learn more about the bombing so they could feel a stronger connection to it. He thus proposed the idea to the school and the talk took place on July 19. Yuto Kurokawa, 11, a sixth-grader at the school, said, “It made me think that I need to cherish the peace we have, which enables me to live the life I have now.”
(Originally published on July 21, 2017)
