Hiroshima in 75 years
Preserve, protect, and defend the legacy of storytelling
Last November, a group of young five eager minds gathered at illy café in Kasumigaseki, Tokyo at 8:00 am. The café is located at the heart of defense ministry guarding the country with modern military force in the boundary of the Constitution. Lawmakers were busy handing legislative documents in office hours from 9:00 am. With roughly one-hour to go, young public servants looked for a fresh wake-up discussion, often described Asakatsu, a morning activity of Tokyoites. Event host selected the topic of TED Talk for discussion, “Fake videos of real people and how to spot them”. The first unanimous reaction from the group was not surprising. This can be applied for legacy succession in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. The voice was raised by a female officer of Diet Office, sitting right in front of me.
Many Japanese mourn August 6 as the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombing. In earlier this month, a British magazine, The Economist, sketched a Hiroshima episode in the introductory part with the memory of seventeen-year-old girl in 1945. She is 92 years old now, joining a wartime group of 130,000 bomb-affected sufferers. The average age of living pacifists is over 83. It is too hard to remember the details for a long time.
Three perspectives on the issue of atomic bombing emerge on the discussion: preserve, protect, and defend the legacy of wartime devastation. For a start, the memory of devastation in Hiroshima is fading. Fewer people talk less about Hiroshima city in Japan. In the memorial dome building, living bomb-affected people continue to keep their stories alive along with 150 volunteers in practice and another 197 legacy successors in training. But the memories among Japanese citizens are fading and being forgotten. NHK disclosed a downward trend in the 40 year span since 1975 in the survey that the number of Japanese citizens has fallen from 50% to less than 30% to remember the dates of atomic bomb drops by American forces. With no surprise, the higher number of residents in Hiroshima and Nagasaki can correctly name the dates. How do they keep the memories alive in the minds of people around the world?
The second issue in front lies in the protection of Japanese territories from the attack of potential adjourning enemies in East Asia. By constitution, Japan must renounce war with Article 9 to limit the capability military attack. The current administration seeks to revise the article so that Japan can acquire the weapons to protect by itself. The only option to maintain the stability of the peace in the pacific is to increase the defense spending by supporting American forces. Does America force fight for Far East Asia?
The third and probably most important issue is on the financial segment of legacy succession. Memory preservation will be dependent on residents of Hiroshima who works on a voluntary assignment. Prior to fully practice the act of storytelling, volunteers spend three years of stretch in training at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. The city of Hiroshima runs the operation of preservation efforts. Legacy successors recount the fading message of atomic-bomb survivors. The administration of the national government intends to revise the constitution. The majority of Japanese citizens in 49 non-Hiroshima prefectures live outside of the bomb-affected areas. People don’t discuss Hiroshima city in 1945 very often except early August. The majority turn their attention away from devastating memories 75 years ago. In this current climate, can the city of Hiroshima sustain the finance of maintaining the preservation stretch and keep legacy successors for years to come?
Back in illy café, my mind was offline for a while. The idea from Southern California is subject to scrutiny toward the end of video. But with a realistic time frame in on-going discussion, if the photographic 3D video justifies the theory of young scientist among the Japanese public, Diet office must act on the launch of new method to connect affected pacifist with the rest of the nation. New video will be showing with a real voice, “If any country with atomic bombs ever uses it against other country, the consequence is self-evident. We should never see the mushroom cloud in the sky.” It is surely worth an investment to keep the ever-lasting memory alive for many generations to come.