Topics 2010
The Mayor of Hiroshima Delivers a Speech at Osaka University
2On Friday, June 4, 2010, Mayor Akiba of Hiroshima visited Osaka University, which has established Hiroshima-Nagasaki Peace Study Courses, and delivered a speech entitled "Lessons from Hiroshima - The Path to a Peaceful World, Free From Nuclear Weapons: The 21st Century-People Solving Their Own Problems" to the class "Peace Studies: Pursuit of Peace". Aside from the 97 undergraduate students, mainly freshmen, enrolled in this class, quite a few graduate students also attended this lecture.
During his speech, Mayor Akiba spoke about various topics including the principles and characteristics of the atomic bomb, methods of how to pass on the painful experiences of the A-bomb survivors, activities of Mayors for Peace, participation to the NPT Review Conference and the need for participatory democracy.
At the questions and answers session, students actively asked questions one after another about such issues as the admission fee to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, how to listen to an A-bomb survivor's testimony, the attitude of mass media journalism and current international political affairs.
The Mayor ended by giving the student an assignment to write an essay on "What are obstacles to achieve a world without nuclear weapons and how to overcome them".
Lecture at Osaka University
