Cultural Exchange Between America and Japan

Today we met with students from Eishin, Jogakuin, Shudo, Komaba, and Jogakuin. Each school gave a presentation on how students at their school strives to achieve peace. Then, we divided into groups and had a thoughtful discussion on the prospect of nuclear disarmament and what our job as high school students is. Here are a few of our conclusions:

• It is our job as students to spread messages of peace to our classmates and others in our community. By giving peace and the active involvement in promoting peace a positive image, we can strengthen the movement for abolishing nuclear weapons
• Nuclear non-proliferation is only a part of the world of peace that we want to achieve. We must always maintain a strong aversion to wars and seek to end the military-industrial complex that many countries have acquired.
• In whatever path in life we choose, we must always keep in mind that we are citizens of the global community. By putting internationalism above nationalism, we value the lives of all mankind over the lives of the few who reside beside us.

Hiroshima A-Bomb Memorial Ceremony

Today marked the 64th anniversary of the atomic bombing in Hiroshima. This memorial ceremony was held in honor of all those who fell victim to the blast. Leaders from all over the world came to speak in support of an abolition of nuclear weapons. Among those who spoke were:

President of the United Nations General Assembly

Prime Minister of Japan

Secretary General of the United Nations

Their speeches were very encouraging. I hope more leaders around the world share their perspective on nuclear weapons so that the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) review conference this coming May will be a successful one - meaning they agree on a timetable to eliminate the nuclear weapons.

representatives of the prime minister of malaysia were sitting in front of us.

Signature Campaign with Hiroshima Students

At the peace park, Kayla and I campaigned with middle and high school students from all over Hiroshima to collect signatures in support of an abolition of nuclear weapons. There is a lot of good video footage of it. But it's in the possession of television news stations. So we'll have to wait until we can get my hands on a copy of their tape.

I felt like I was doing my part in the global effort toward nuclear disarmament. I approached people in the peace park who looked like they could speak english (because I didn't know Japanese) and asked them to sign the petition to abolish nuclear weapons. The petition will be sent to the United Nations General Assembly in February of 2010. Almost every single person I asked signed it. Among those who signed were people from the Netherlands, Spain, Slovakia, China, US, and Russia. It became clear to me that Hiroshima is the gathering place for all those who want to promote peace (especially tomorrow at the atomic bombing ceremony).

Kayla, I need those pictures from today up on photobucket ASAP please!

Meeting with Steven Leeper

Steven Leeper is the chairperson of the board of directors at the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation.

Details coming soon.

Meeting with Mayor of Hiroshima

Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba has lead his city by significantly improving the waste management system, government efficiency, international relations, and more. Perhaps most importantly, he founded the Mayors for Peace organization that seeks to bring together city mayors from all over the world "to promote the total elimination of nuclear weapons and the realization of genuine and lasting world peace." Today this organization is 3000 strong with mayors from 134 different countries. This is a perfect example of Obama's foreign policy slogan, which says something along the lines of: people with many differences coming together under a common purpose. In this case, that common purpose is nuclear non-proliferation. You can find more information about Mayor Akiba's organization and his other work by clicking here.

The election of Obama has given the people of Hiroshima more hope towards a nuclear free world. Obama's reputation as an advocate of positive change and his childhood at Punahou School gave our presence more importance. Kayla and I are experiencing a lot of media attention every day because we are from the same highschool Obama graduated from and we're here to learn about and promote peace. The media, politicians, students - seemingly everyone - here is somehow involved in generating national and international support for nuclear non-proliferation. And I plan to get involved as well. This thursday we're going to attend the 64th anniversary of the atomic bombing and sign a petition to rid the world of nuclear weapons with other students at Jogakuin on friday.

On a side note, my host family is absolutely wonderful - sugoi in Japanese. Everything in the house is perfectly organized and the food never falls short of "Oishi desu ne!" - "it's really delicious!"

takoyaki!

Arrival

After eight hours of flight and two of rail, we finally made it to Hiroshima - known as the "international city of peace." Within the first couple days, I saw many things that can testify to this reputation.

Here is an inscription I found in front of the cenotaph of the atomic bomb victims:

In the following days we passed two public demonstrations in petition against nuclear weapons, war, and the reinterpretation of Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution. This article prohibits the nation from going to war or having a standing army, which is something many people want to amend or reinterpret to alllow Japan to remain militaristically strong.

A group of college students and adults running through the streets shouting messages of peace.

The Team