99 Luftballoons (Karaoke)

NOTE: The private video below requires login to YouTube for playback.

RECORDED: June 6, 2009, Kyoto, Japan
WHO: Webster University and Ritsumeikan students and faculty

Sayonara Anata (Karaoke)

NOTE: The private video below requires login to YouTube for playback.

Recorded: June 6, 2009 Kyoto, Japan.
Images of the old Honshu-Hokkaido ferry have been edited into the video clip.

Report on PrepCom & Outlook for 2010 NPT Review Conference

Rebecca Johnson, executive director of the Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy, has published an article in Arms Control Today, reviewing the third Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) meeting for the 2010 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference, held May 4-15, 2009 in New York. The article, titled "Enhanced Prospects for 2010: An Analysis of the Third PrepCom and the Outlook for the 2010 NPT Review Conference," summarizes the negotiations and results of the Third PrepCom. The PreCom raised hopes for a productive 2010 Conference (scheduled for May 3-28, 2010), but also highlighed the enormous political and diplomatic work required in the next year to achieve agreements that will result in advancing the nonproliferation agenda and in creating a foundation for moving toward a world free of nuclear weapons. The article is available at: http://www.armscontrol.org/act/2009_6/Johnson

In his discussion with the Webster University class "Global Issues: Japan" (June 9, 2009), Steven Leeper (Chairman, Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation), referred to the 2010 NPT Review Conference as a milestone for knowing whether or not the world will choose to work toward a nuclear weapon-free world. Leeper asserts that if it does not choose that path, then other nations will develop nuclear weapons within a few years, and "it will only be a matter of time before they are used."

Ring bells for Peace

APPEAL FOR PEACE BELL PROJECT
commemorating the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Everyone is invited to ring bells at the exact moment of the Hiroshima bombing (8:15AM on August 6th, Japan) and the Nagasaki bombing (11:02AM on August 9th, Japan).

Or you can ring bells in your time zone at 8:15AM on August 6th for Hiroshima and 11:02AM on August 9th for Nagasaki.

Support a World Without Nuclear Weapons for our Children and All Future Generations.

Upon informing us of your plans we will include your participation on our website www.universalpeaceday.com
Please e-mail us at: univpeaceday@aol.com

No Nuke Network Hiroshima

No Nuke Network Hiroshima is a study group of students from 9 junior high and high schools in Hiroshima. They include students from:

• Hiroshima Jogakuin High School
  
• Notre Dame High School (Hiroshima)
• Motomachi High School
• Hiroshima Students Peace Seminar, a peace education circle comprised of high schools students; and
  
• junior writers for “Peace Seeds,” a children’s newspaper produced by teens in Hiroshima.

According to a report in the Hiroshima Peace Center News (July 1, 2009), the group has launched a campaign to encourage U.S. President Barack Obama to visit Hiroshima. They met with Professor Hiroshi Oshima, a professor of Hiroshima Shudo University to learn more about Mr. Obama and the American view of nuclear weapons. This study session helped the group consider specific actions they could take in their campaign.

The study group is an example of young students practicing "global citizenship" through peace literacy activities.

6 Japanese Parliamentarians Work for A-Bomb Monument and Museum in Washington, D.C.

Hiroshima Peace Media Center is an institute within Chuogoku Newspaper, which is widely read in the Chugoku Region (Western end of Honshu Island) of Japan. Their "Peace News" covers a wide range of topics from nuclear abolition to peace education. One piece of bright news that I found recently is:

Japanese parliamentarians seek to establish A-bomb museum in Washington, D.C.

The "NPT Promotion Committee" that consists of 6 parliamentarians from different parties, plans to unveil a monument to "express the hope of eliminating nuclear weapons" in next May, when the NPT Review Conference takes place. Also some time in the next year, they aim to open "a permanent museum to convey the consequences of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki."

Peter van den Dungen, who leads the International Network of Museums for Peace, said during the 6th International Conference of Museums for Peace conference in Hiroshima in October 2009, that he would like to see A-bomb museums in the capital cities of all the nuclear-possessing countries. This move initiated by a group of Japanese parliamentarians will be a great start.

According to Chugoku Newspaper, the six members of the "NPT Promotion Committee" are:

Minoru Terada, LDP (House of Representatives,) 寺田稔（自民、衆院広島５区）
Tsutomu Tomioka, LDP (House of Representatives) 富岡勉（自民、衆院比例九州＝長崎１区）
Hideo Hiraoka, DPJ (House of Representatives) 平岡秀夫（民主、衆院山口２区）
Kenzo Fujisue, DPJ (House of Councilors) 藤末健三（民主、参院比例）
Nobuto Hosaka, SDP(House of Representative) 保坂展人（社民、衆院比例東京）
Akira Kasai, JCP (House of Representative) 笠井亮（共産、比例東京）

LDP=Liberal Democratic Party; DPJ=Democratic Party of Japan; SDJ=Social Democratic Party of Japan; JCP=Japan Communist Party)

Where are the women? I should make an inquiry :)

Satoko

Class Interview with Yumi Kikuchi

Yumi Kikuchi described her development as an environmentalist, peace activist and media educator in this video clip when the Webster University class, "Global Issues: Japan" visited with her in Tokyo on June 2, 2009:

For more information on Yumi Kikuchi, see: http://globalissuesjapan.blogspot.com/2009/05/resources-on-yumi-kikuchi.html