Peace Education & Hiroshima

Welcome Back! I realize it has been a few days since my last entry, but I have been on the move. At like 300 mph. Maybe more.

After the trip to the Fish Market on Friday, we attended a Peace Education presentation. There were two presenters, one a teacher from Hiroshima, Tomoko Yanagi, and a Hiroshima survivor, Keijiro Matsushima. I don't have my notes in front of me as my luggage is still enroute to the hotel (which I will save for another entry) but remember fairly clearly their entire presentation. I also reserved a DVD of the presentation which I will be sharing with my classes soon. Tomoko spoke first about her connection to the bombing -- her father was a university student at the time of the bombing -- and how sometimes difficult it is to teach about Hiroshima. She recognized the importance of teaching both sides of an issue and has taken her students to other countries so that they can see and hear other nation's opinions about Japan.

Keijiro recounted the day the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and the days leading up to the event. He said that "we Japanese" were proud when the attack on Pearl Harbor happened. He said, "We did it!" but didn't realize what the consquences would be. Keijiro relived going to school that morning, described where he sat, and how everyone's location determined how they would fare in the attack. He feels he was very lucky to only have cuts from broken glass. Others, as we know, weren't so lucky and he described the scene after the blast. The heat, the darkness, the silence. He said that they were angry at the United States but after the war were not angry at Americans, largely due to the way they were treated by the American GIs. He said that they did hate the bomb though and continues to speak out against the use of nuclear weapons. After the bombing, the people in Hiroshima did not know that it was a nuclear bomb and many outside the city rushed in to find loved ones - unknowingly exposing themselves to radioactivity.

More important though than the information about the bombing was the message. And surprisingly the message was not anti-nuclear (even though both presenters and the moderator felt strongly against nuclear weapons). The message was one of how to get past something so horrible -- whether Pearl Harbor or Hiroshima. The first step that all speakers (including one from a previously recorded video) was to apologize. They began the presentation by apologizing to us for anything (not just Pearl Harbor or the war) that they as Japanese had done to cause us harm. The words they used were not "I apologize for the bad things Japan has done," or "I apologize on behalf of those people do did this." It was "I apologize for something we (including me as a member of this country) did to you." Very powerful words. \

Many people, especially those with Japanese connections were in tears. A few teachers went up and gave a personal apology as well -- those with connections to the bombing or the war. One teacher's father (or grandfather) was a Pearl Harbor survivor. She thanked the presenters for their apologies and then offered one as well. I could go one as there were so many people with personal connections and seemed to find closure through this act of forgiving and apologizing. I don't have pictures but will have the DVD. If you'd like to see it, let me know.