Hawaiʻi Scholars and a Public School Educator Experience Hiroshima through the Lens of Peace
On August 1, 2024, Hiroshima Peace Scholars Charles Reid-Selth of Radford High School and Mia Takahashi of Hawaii Baptist Academy were accompanied by Jodie Chock, an Art Teacher at Kalāheo High School, on an educational and culturally enriching exchange program in Hiroshima, Japan. For nine days, they engaged in valuable experiences including: living with host families, meeting Japanese students from many schools, attending a Peace Forum held by Hiroshima Jogakuin High School, having conversations with some of the atomic bomb (a-bomb) survivors, and learning about creating a worldwide culture of peace.
[L-R] Mia Takahashi, Charles Reid-Selth, and Jodie Chock deliver senbazuru (1,000 folded cranes) to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, featuring a sculpture in honor of Sadako Sasaki.
The Hawaiʻi delegation began their first morning in Hiroshima by visiting the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and Museum, which was a great way to set the mood for the trip and learn more deeply about what happened on August 6, 1945. Mia was the only member of the group who had previously been to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. She last visited when she was 12 years old and, at that time, could not yet grasp the magnitude of the bombing and its effect on the people of Hiroshima and the world. Returning to the museum as a 17-year-old who now understands the effects on a larger scale encountered an eye-opening experience, commenting, “As I walked around the museum, it was very impactful to see artifacts that had stuck out to me the first time, but now stand out for a different reason. Overall, visiting the museum was a very informative and memorable way to start our trip.”
Hiroshima Peace Scholars and Chaperone from Hawaiʻi explore the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum.
Another memorable experience for the delegates was accompanying a group of Jogakuin High School students to collect signatures around the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, with the Genbaku (a-bomb) Dome and Motoyasu River as their backdrop. These students gathered and walked throughout the park in the summer heat, intending to promote the abolition of nuclear weapons worldwide. The delegates were grateful to have participated in the signature collection with the Jogakuin students and to interact with people from Japan and around the world who visited Hiroshima for the anniversary of the bombing. The Hawaiʻi scholars reported that the entire experience was very heart-warming for them because they were able to witness firsthand how so many people from all over the world still visit Hiroshima and agree with the sentiment of nuclear disarmament.
A visitor to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park signs the petition to abolish nuclear weapons.
One of the most unique experiences the Hawaiʻi delegates had on this trip was the time they spent on the grounds of Hiroshima Castle, where they encountered some resident survivors of the a-bomb. These scholars had the opportunity to visit several trees of different types that had lived since before the bombing, still alive and currently being cared for. They described the experience as feeling like they were meeting a living person, similar to visiting with a kupuna or elder. “There was a presence that could be felt,” they explained, and there was a powerful feeling in the air when meeting with these trees. Taking their time with each tree, they learned a little bit about what had occurred in their lives.
They learned about the “scars”; much like the many human survivors of the bomb, the trees were also physically damaged and weakened on the side facing the hypocenter. So much that their growth on that side slowed, causing the opposite side to grow asymmetrically and bend toward the hypocenter. They also learned the importance of these trees to the people of Hiroshima, and how many Japanese people had resonated with the surviving Willow Tree. This tree, like them, had sturdy roots but was flexible to the conditions imposed on it.
The delegation additionally learned that the new sprouts from the Willow Tree were being saved rather than trimmed, to create clippings that could extend the Willow Tree’s legacy through future generations. The Green Legacy Hiroshima Initiative (GLH) works to distribute clippings of a-bombed trees to countries worldwide, spreading the message of peace.
Charles shares hā (breath) with the eucalyptus tree at Hiroshima Castle, a survivor of the a-bomb.
Conversing with human survivors of the atomic bomb, referred to as hibakusha, were individually fulfilling highlights of the Hawaiʻi delegates’ trip to Hiroshima. The scholars, being possibly of the last generation to be able to hear these voices in person, had the great honor and responsibility bestowed upon them to have visited with hibakusha they met in Hiroshima.
Survivor Ms.Keiko Ogura was spared from the direct impact of the bomb due to the foresight of her father, who had since moved the family home out of the city and told her not to go to school on the morning of August 6, 1945. She experienced death at her doorstep in the aftermath, as many people traveled out of the city to seek refuge and assistance, but died tragically from their wounds in the days that followed. Ogura-san explained to the scholars how she had witnessed the suffering of some of these people in their final moments, still echoing in her memory. At that time, she was still a child.
Ms.Tomiko Kawano, a dear friend of Sadako Sasaki shared her accounts of visiting Sadako at the Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital for atomic bomb survivors, along with some fond memories of their childhood days spent together at Nobori-cho Elementary School, which the delegates also had an opportunity to visit. Kawano-san herself was spared from injuries due to drapery coincidentally falling upon her as she became unconscious from the impact of the bomb, protecting her body from shards of broken glass from the cabinets that exploded in her home. Her brothers were not as fortunate, nor was her friend Sadako, who later developed leukemia as a result of her exposure to radiation from the atomic bomb. Sadako, known for her story of the 1,000 cranes, was described by Kawano-san as athletically adept and agile, affectionately known to classmates as “saru”, monkey, or “Sada-chan” to Kawano-san herself. Kawano-san had described how difficult it was to say goodbye each time she left Sadako at the hospital, and it was especially difficult to see the purple spots developing on Sadako’s arms and legs as the illness progressed. Although Sadako succumbed to leukemia, Kawano-san explained to the scholars that she felt responsible for keeping the memory of Sadako and others alive; teaching more people about how the atomic bomb affected the lives of innocent people, many of whom were children, even years after its initial impact.
Attending the 79th Annual Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony provided an opportunity to honor these women and other hibakusha who are still living, along with those who have since passed away, and those whose lives were lost on impact or soon after. At 8:15 on the morning of August 6, 2024, everyone was asked to take a collective moment of silence to remember the lives that were forever changed at this same moment in 1945, when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. It was powerful for the Hawaiʻi delegates to participate in this intentional reflection with everyone in this shared space. A sense of peace and a message of hope were brought to this current timeline with the finale of white doves released to the skies above. May all who were afflicted now be free.
Hiroshima Peace Scholars from Hawaiʻi attend the 79th Annual Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.
JASH extends a big THANK YOU to everyone who supported this year’s program. Special thanks to Hiroshima Jogakuin, City of Hiroshima, Ms. Nao Fukuoka, Ms. Momoka Narasaki, Ms. Mirei Tashiro, Ms. Kanade Kurozumi, and wonderful host families in Hiroshima.
The Hiroshima Peace Scholarship (HPS) (est. 2009) was founded by Hiromi Peterson and Naomi Hirano-Omizo, retired Japanese language faculty of Punahou School, to encourage young peacebuilders and strengthen relationships between Hawaii and Hiroshima. The program is supported by the proceeds from their textbook series, Adventures in Japanese. JASH began managing HPS in 2021. To learn more about the Hiroshima Peace Scholarship, visit https://www.jashawaii.org/education/hps.
