It's been another interesting week in Japan. August is an important month to many Japanese people as it marks the anniversary of the two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II. The bombs dropped three days apart, over Hiroshima on August 6th and Nagasaki on August 9th 1945, have had a huge effect on the attitudes of Japanese people and Government.
Over 200, 000 Japanese perished immediately or soon after the impact, and many thousands have died of related illnesses since then. The new pacifist Japanese constitution enacted immediately after WWII by the allied forces has been firmly embraced by the Japanese people, who fear that such consequences of war may happen again.
This year is the 60th Anniversary of the bombing, and there is a lot of public and media interest in the events themselves and various memorials to them around the country. The memorial ceremonies in Hiroshima where 140,000 lives were lost were centred around the famous 'Genshi Baku Dome' or Atomic Bomb Dome building. This historic building was at the epicentre of the Nuclear Blast and remains standing to this day surrounded by the beautiful 'Peace Park'. 55,000 people gathered at a dawn ceremony in the park to recite prayers and lay flowers as the scorching midsummer sun began to rise over the city. At 8.15 am a young relative of a victim rang a large bell to mark the time the of the blast sixty years before.
As you can imagine with the commemorations on many peoples minds, it did feel a somewhat awkward time to be a foreigner living here . In addition, when you are working in a conversation school and talking to so many Japanese people each day, it can be hard to avoid difficult conversations with students. Especially since the golden rule of most English schools is 'Don't mention the War!' It seemed like it may have been a tough week at work.
It turned out my fears were unfounded though, and I had several very satisfying and sincere conversations with students at our branch regarding the subject. The most memorable of these was with Yosh a student who I get on very well with. He is in his early to mid thirties and he is always quick to smile and participate in class. On this day it was only me and him in the class chatting and the conversation quickly went to the recent commemorations.
We both agreed it was a tremendously sad occasion and I stated my desire to visit the Hiroshima Peace park and memorials in the very near future. This quickly became a fairly intense conversation as we discussed our views on Nuclear proliferation and the fallacy that these powerful weapons can ensure peace in our world. Obviously the multilateral six nation talks with North Korea came up as this an extremely hot topic in Japan right now.
North Korea is so close and for them to have nuclear weapons is a terrifying prospect to Japanese people who fear another atomic disaster. Yosh questioned me on New Zealand's position on the nuclear debate I was very proud to tell him about our Nuclear Free policy. He was extremely impressed that such a small country of only four million could make such a stand in the face of intense pressure from America.
We discussed the future and the possibility of nuclear disarmament one day. This was a little depressing but looking at it pragmatically it seemed that as long as the world has instability and fear, nuclear weapons will proliferate and will inevitably be used again in the future...
Over 200, 000 Japanese perished immediately or soon after the impact, and many thousands have died of related illnesses since then. The new pacifist Japanese constitution enacted immediately after WWII by the allied forces has been firmly embraced by the Japanese people, who fear that such consequences of war may happen again.
This year is the 60th Anniversary of the bombing, and there is a lot of public and media interest in the events themselves and various memorials to them around the country. The memorial ceremonies in Hiroshima where 140,000 lives were lost were centred around the famous 'Genshi Baku Dome' or Atomic Bomb Dome building. This historic building was at the epicentre of the Nuclear Blast and remains standing to this day surrounded by the beautiful 'Peace Park'. 55,000 people gathered at a dawn ceremony in the park to recite prayers and lay flowers as the scorching midsummer sun began to rise over the city. At 8.15 am a young relative of a victim rang a large bell to mark the time the of the blast sixty years before.
One of the more symbolic gestures was a ceremony which involved Hiroshima people offering ladels of holy water to those victims who had suffered the burning atomic heat.At dusk paper lanterns were floated down the river to symbolise the souls of the dead who perished in the flames. On a more material level the ceremonies included many prayers and hopes for peace that were presented in speeches by local dignitaries. These included calls from Hiroshima mayor Akiba for the United Nations to abolish Nuclear Weapons by 2020. Statements which were echoed later by Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi who went as far as saying Japan, being the first country to be a victim of nuclear weapons, should take the lead in the fight for global nuclear disarmament.
As you can imagine with the commemorations on many peoples minds, it did feel a somewhat awkward time to be a foreigner living here . In addition, when you are working in a conversation school and talking to so many Japanese people each day, it can be hard to avoid difficult conversations with students. Especially since the golden rule of most English schools is 'Don't mention the War!' It seemed like it may have been a tough week at work.
It turned out my fears were unfounded though, and I had several very satisfying and sincere conversations with students at our branch regarding the subject. The most memorable of these was with Yosh a student who I get on very well with. He is in his early to mid thirties and he is always quick to smile and participate in class. On this day it was only me and him in the class chatting and the conversation quickly went to the recent commemorations.
We both agreed it was a tremendously sad occasion and I stated my desire to visit the Hiroshima Peace park and memorials in the very near future. This quickly became a fairly intense conversation as we discussed our views on Nuclear proliferation and the fallacy that these powerful weapons can ensure peace in our world. Obviously the multilateral six nation talks with North Korea came up as this an extremely hot topic in Japan right now.
North Korea is so close and for them to have nuclear weapons is a terrifying prospect to Japanese people who fear another atomic disaster. Yosh questioned me on New Zealand's position on the nuclear debate I was very proud to tell him about our Nuclear Free policy. He was extremely impressed that such a small country of only four million could make such a stand in the face of intense pressure from America.
We discussed the future and the possibility of nuclear disarmament one day. This was a little depressing but looking at it pragmatically it seemed that as long as the world has instability and fear, nuclear weapons will proliferate and will inevitably be used again in the future...
I shared with him my hope that after all the countless centuries of war and suffering the human race has experienced, and all the great breakthroughs in science and understanding that we have made , surely we must have learned that there is a better way to live than by putting our trust and security in guns and bombs.I think its time to help and trust each other, communicate and work together so there's no need to fight anymore. To evolve together. Watching the violence on the 6 O`Clock news it seems a difficult vision to imagine but I am heartened by my own personal experience with Yosh: from a country a world away from my own, who, three generations ago would have been my enemy, but who has such similar dreams for the future and is now my friend.
No comments:
Post a Comment