In 2020-2021, the CIE once again installed the exhibition, partnering with the Honors College of Central Michigan University to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the bombing and the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (on January 22, 2021). The pandemic was upon us, and it was important for Dr. May to create learning experiences that did not involve screens. The CIE once again organized testimony from Hibakusha as it did in 2014 when it heard from Sachiko Masuoka. You can learn more about the testimony of Hibakusha (and watch the testimony of Kunihiko Iida in 2021, and Kiyomi Kono in 2020, by clicking here.) Dr. May worked with several Honors students (Michael Buzzy, Kelvin Hakemi and Michelle Powers) who were trained to lead tours of the exhibition in Powers Hall (home of the Honors College). These students helped to educate their peers about the myriad issues connected to the testing and use of nuclear weapons. The slideshow at left shows several CMU students at the completion of the tour.
Please send inquiries about the exhibition here.
Media Coverage of the Exhibition:
1) CM-LIFE article (1/28/2021)
2) 9/10 News piece (1/22/2021)
On August 6, 1945, the U.S. dropped the first atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, Nagasaki was bombed. The victims were primarily civilians.
2020 marked the 75th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Further The Treaty on The Prohibition on Nuclear Weapons took effect ("entered into force") on January 22, 2021. To mark that moment, CMU's Center for International Ethics partnered with CMU's Honors Program to revive the exhibition that was first installed by the Center in 2014. As part of the 2020-2021 program, several CMU Honors students (Michael Buzzy, Kelvin Hakemi and Michelle Powers)
Mayor Shinzo Hamai's Peace Declaration and "A Revolution of Thought"
Exactly two years after the bombing of Hiroshima, Mayor Shinzo Hamai delivered the first Mayorial “Peace Declaration” of Hiroshima. In that historic document, he urges us to use the bombing as a call to action for peace and the abolition of nuclear weapons.
Following Mayor Hamai's vision, Hiroshima was rebuilt, by law, to be a “peace city”. As part of this mandate, the city provides education aimed at building a culture of peace. This exhibition is one of the ways that Hiroshima reaches out into the world in its effort to build a culture of peace.
You can read more about the mandate to turn Hiroshima into a City of Peace here.
Some relevant history & more about the exhibition in 2014:
In 2014, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, in connection with The Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation, gifted a 30 poster exhibition to the Center for International Ethics at Central Michigan University. Sent directly from Hiroshima, the posters were mounted as part of an educational program titled "A Revolution of Thought." In addition to the exhibition, CMU students also heard eye-witness testimony of the bombing from Sachiko Mashuoka, a survivor of the bombing (Hibakusha). Pictures of the exhibition as it appeared in 2014 in Anspach Hall are below.
Photos of the "A Revolution of Thought" as it appeared in Anspach Hall, Central Michigan University, in April 2014.
