JICA Chugoku; Learning peace from the reconstruction of Hiroshima

Use for "Hiroshima peace learning tour for JICA long-term trainees".

After peace learning, the tour went to Okonomiyaki cooking class, which was not only a lunch, including learning about Hiroshima peacebuilding

JICA Chugoku initiatively takes the peace learning into the curriculum for JICA long-term trainees who visit Hiroshima and participate the training course in Hiroshima.

Although we have not started the face-to-face training course in Hiroshima yet because of COVID-19, but for the trainees who had already arrived at Japan, we carried out the peace learning tours on September 15th and 29th, 2020.

The tour visited Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and The Atomic Dome, and listened to the lecture by experts. Traveling by using the bus, we screened JICA-Net multimedia-based learning materials "A Message from the Reconstruction of Hiroshima - The Role and Actions of Local Government in Reconstruction -" during its migration time (in the bus) to make the best use of time.

The reconstruction of Hiroshima as Peace Memorial City

In March 1952, Hiroshima Peace Memorial City Construction Plan was drafted and Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park has begun to be build.

"A Message from the Reconstruction of Hiroshima - The Role and Actions of Local Government in Reconstruction -" (external link) divides the reconstruction of Hiroshima into three phases which overlapped each other: recovery, transition, and reconstruction, introduces Hiroshima Prefecture and City's experience and knowledge about local government's role and efforts in post-war reconstruction.

In response to the unprecedented damage under WWII, building the administrative system for reconstruction were begun immediately as well as rescue and recovery after the disaster.

Although, at the beginning, the reconstruction plan faced variety of difficulties that included shortages of funding, manpower, materials, and the scarcity of public land, the plan was finally achieved by aiming for reconstruction of Hiroshima as not only the recovery of city function but also the place to create world peace.

Political leadership by mayor, effort by government officials, and corporation with citizens on common idea for construction of Peace Memorial City, were indispensable for the success of reconstruction.

To learn from the experience of Hiroshima

Screening the material in the bus.

The peace learning for trainees has been performed regularly in Hiroshima and many trainees who participated the peace learning said they wanted to more concretely know how Hiroshima could be reconstructed. So I utilized the material by screening in the tour bus for trainees to learn the process of Hiroshima reconstruction as much as possible.

On September 15th, 9 trainees participated in all: 4 from Bangladesh, 3 from Myanmar, each 1 from Nepal and Vietnam. And on September 29th, 8 trainees participated: 4 from Cambodia, each 1 from Syria, Tadzhikistan, Mauritius, and Laos.

After watching the material, trainees gave us their thoughts such as "There was a positive message how they changed the ruined city to the symbol of reconstruction.", "Local government's effort and action within limited resources in the transition phase for reconstruction were wonderful." and so on. I felt that the material could introduce trainees the essence of process on reconstruction of Hiroshima efficiently, in a short time during traveling by bus.

This material is produced so that the experience of Hiroshima helps people who make efforts to reconstruction of their own countries in the world today as much as possible, and also useful for foreign tourists who visit Hiroshima to deepen understanding of Hiroshima. I will consider the way of using the material in various situation and expect that understanding the idea of reconstruction of Hiroshima makes more people think about peace.

Makumo Iwatani
JICA Chugoku

*The Material(s) mainly applied

A Message from the Reconstruction of Hiroshima - The Role and Actions of Local Government in Reconstruction -

"This material demonstrates the roles and activities of local governance in the process of reconstruction from the conflict from the experience of Hiroshima. Within this material, following features are particularly focused on, such as

1. Development and sharing of reconstruction vision
2. Political leadership by mayor and commitment by government officials
3. Seamless transition between each reconstruction phase
4. Collaboration between the national, prefectural and city governments
5. Collaboration between citizens and government"

• YouTube (external link)