JCCU holds online meeting for the "2023 Peace Action in Hiroshima and Nagasaki"
2023.12.04
JCCU held an online meeting on October 5, 2023, to review the "2023 Peace Action in Hiroshima and Nagasaki" held in August.
At the beginning, OKAMURA Nobuhide, President of the Hiroshima Prefecture Consumers' Co-operative Union, and TAKAGI Hidehisa, Secretary General of the Nagasaki Prefecture Consumers' Co-operative Union, greeted the participants. Following that, JCCU provided a retrospective of the "2023 Peace Action in Hiroshima and Nagasaki" event, which was held locally for the first time in four years, and highlighted key areas of focus, including various participation methods, learning about the realities of the A-bombings, and youth involvement.
Subsequently, participants from Co-op Kyoritsusha and Co-op Yamaguchi reported what they had witnessed, heard, and encountered in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively. They shared their experiences from these local areas, and some participants expressed the following impressions: "The sight of the A-bomb Dome, visible right after alighting from the tram, conveys the horror of the atomic bomb very strongly. It was saddening to hear stories from A-bomb survivors," and "I felt hope when observing the active role of the younger generation and the civic power in Nagasaki that will continue to promote peace into the future.
Afterwards, there were reports from the Children's Peace Conference (※1) and the Peace Planning Study Group (※2). Finally, a group exchange session was held by the participants, during which they discussed and shared their ideas about peace activities they would like to carry out in the future at their respective co-ops and renewed their commitment to peace.
※1 A platform where children, who are the future bearers, learn about 'peace,' engage in discussions with their peers, contemplate, create 'appeal statements' expressing their thoughts on peace in their own words, and present them.
※2 A planning committee, consisting of co-op staff, member directors, and students from across the nation, is participating with the aim of creating a peace action plan that the younger generation can engage in. This plan seeks to convey the experiences of war and A-bombings to the next generation.
