All information is now also in English!（英語版です！）①

Making an app to find out about peace-related events in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

 

Hi everyone! My name is Erika Abiko. I have a huge interest in community service and any peace-related activities. My relocation to Hiroshima led me to move there and start a new job, creating opportunities for people to get to know more about nuclear issues that we are facing. This has become my main job. My latest project is an app that provides information about events being held this summer in Hiroshima and Nagasaki related to peace-building. Previously this information was difficult to find, but it is now all in one place!

 

We are excited to fully develop this app, but we need to raise more funds. To make this happen, we need your help.

Student-led "8/6 Talk"

 

Never had the chance to find peace-related events?

Every summer, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the only cities that atomic bombs have been dropped on, hold peace ceremonies in their respective Memorial Peace Parks. People from all over the world come to these cities to offer silent prayers, with approximately 50,000 visitors to Hiroshima and 25,000 visitors to Nagasaki. During this summer period, both cities coordinate many peace-related events. Unfortunately,  there is no place online where all of the events are posted, and as such most of the visitors who come to pay their respects do not know about them.
 

International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) event

 

Most organizations working in Hiroshima distribute information about their events through pamphlets and mailing lists only, and do not post anything online. While there are a few events that are publicized online, they are all separate and therefore hard to find. Up until now, there has not been a place where any of the announcements are posted together.

 

We want to make it so that you can find all this information at once, including maps and calendars.

When I first moved to Hiroshima 7 years ago, even when August was fast approaching I could not find the necessary information regarding events that I would have wanted to attend. It wasn't until later that I met people through working and living there that I found out there were a huge number of events that take place every year. After realizing this, I thought to myself, 'I want to make it so that you can find all this information at once, including maps and calendars. I want to help people who, like me when I first moved to Hiroshima, don't know where to go.'

 

Those who want to hear bomb survivors' testimonies, those who want to learn the latest about disarmament and nuclear abolition, those who want to listen to live musicians' performances about peaceーthese are the people who can access this website and find out the details of these kinds of events.
 

 

 

Prototype of the site

As we look to create the future, we must look back at Hiroshima and Nagasaki to understand what happened.
 

"Atomic bombs aren't a big deal anymore." This is a sentiment I have heard from many people around my age. I disagree. If we are to create the future, we must learn from the past. If we do not, we are doomed to repeat those same mistakes. "I should be the last to feel such pain. Nothing that painful should happen again." This is the overwhelming feeling of many A-bomb survivors who have shared with us their emotional testimonies.
 

As the people who will be creating the future, we must look back at Hiroshima and Nagasaki to understand what happened, and then think: what can we do? I want to increase opportunities for people to come together in answering this question. I hope that you will help me in my mission.

Lantern floating ceremony on the night of August 6

 

I decided to launch this project in the summer of 2015, the 70th anniversary of the dropping of the bombs. Please help me reach my goal!