Connecting the World and Hiroshima with Action for Peace

JICA Chugoku always provides the opportunity for Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCVs) from Hiroshima Prefecture to listen to a lecture by an A-bomb survivor before their deployment to assigned countries. Whenever they introduce themselves overseas as coming from Hiroshima, the response is always, “Oh, you are from Hiroshima, the place where the atomic bomb was dropped?!” For this reason, we believe that it is important for JOCVs to learn more about the reality of the atomic bombing. Recently, I had an opportunity to listen to an A-bomb survivor for the first time in my life, along with JOCVs from Hiroshima.

Among the A-bomb survivor’s stories, I was impressed by an anti-war message which originates from the Buddhism story of “Gumyoucho” (a two-headed bird). The story goes that when the two heads confronted each other, and one head poisoned the other to defeat it, the poison spread to the body and both of them died as a result because they shared the same body. This story reminded us that there are no winners in wars and that all lives are connected. I was also deeply moved by what the A-bomb survivor said: “Peace cannot be achieved by merely chanting,” “We must not remain indifferent to world affairs and world peace,” “It is important to suppress egocentric perspectives and have an altruistic spirit toward others,” and “International exchange and cooperation are necessary (for mutual understanding)”. Once again, I felt that international cooperation can be an action for peace.

JICA Chugoku has received support from the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation for the provision of A-bomb-related materials and has been actively supporting A-bomb and peace exhibitions held in various countries on the initiative by JOCVs. The first A-bomb exhibition was held in 2004 in Nicaragua, Central America, which experienced civil war, and a total of 202 exhibitions have been held in 70 countries to date. In 2023, an art event for peace was held at the National History Museum in Bishkek, the capital of the Kyrgyz Republic in Central Asia. The event was led by Yu Beavers, who was a member of the JOCVs in the field of graphic design at the time (she is currently working as a community development squad in Kumano Town, Hiroshima Prefecture, which is famous for its brush). The event was attended by Hideki Goda, the Ambassador of Japan in Kyrgyz Republic, who is from Mihara City, Hiroshima Prefecture, and Hiroyuki Kawamoto, Chief Representative of the JICA Kyrgyz Republic Office, who is from Hiroshima City and whose grandparents were A-bomb survivors.

Kyrgyz Republic is geopolitically close to Russia, which is under a state of war with Ukraine, so, the peace event was realized under the theme of “Re-emergence” through art activities without emphasizing A-bomb itself. The work, “Carp Climbing Waterfall,” was created by a Kyrgyzstan artist, and the key words were written in Japanese, Russian, and Kyrgyz, by Hiroyuki Kawamoto, based on his interviews with people in Hiroshima during graduate school research. As Kawamoto is a big fan of the Carp, a Japanese professional baseball team, this art work represents his passion to the team. Please watch the following videos of “From Kyrgyz to Hiroshima” to see how the day went and “Project for Peace” by some members of JOCVs in Africa.

From Kyrgyz to Hiroshima～A carp deliverling peace messages～ (youtube.com)
Project for Peace: What is a precious thing for you？ (youtube.com)
（Please watch the above two videos with English subtitles as the audio is in Japanese）

We wanted to let people in Japan know more about the efforts by JOCVs to hold A-bomb and Peace exhibitions around the world and the messages for peace received from local residents. JICA Chugoku held a panel exhibition in the lobby on the first floor of the Hiroshima International Conference Center in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park last year, and this year on the first basement floor of the Peace Memorial Museum to introduce the efforts of JOCVs for the A-bomb and Peace exhibitions. The “Carp Climbing Waterfall” exhibited in Kyrgyz Republic, crossed the sea and was displayed at the JICA Chugoku in Higashi-Hiroshima City, Hiroshima Prefecture this year.

In addition to the above A-bomb/Peace exhibition by JOCVs, JICA Chugoku has been offering the opportunity for Japanese youths in Hiroshima to have a dialogue with JICA long-term participants.

One of them is an exchange program between the Youth Peace Volunteers (high school and university students in Japan) and the JICA long-term participants, and it began when foreign tourists disappeared due to the Covid-19 pandemic and there were few opportunities for the Youth Peace Volunteers to guide visitors in English around Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. Through dialogues with the JICA long-term participants, the Youth Peace Volunteers learned about the reality of civil wars and conflicts in various parts of the world, which Japanese people do not know much about. The JICA long-term participants enjoyed this opportunity because they are usually busy with their research and seldom have a chance to talk with the Japanese youth. It must have been an opportunity for them to feel the significance of studying and living together in Hiroshima, a city of peace.

Next year will be the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing to Hiroshima. I hope that JICA will continue to contribute to connecting the world and Hiroshima with actions for peace.