Report by Ms. Loréna Schlicht, AFCDRP–Mayors for Peace France
The opening ceremony of the Japan Week in Occitanie was held on Saturday, November 26 at the House of International Relations in Montpellier, which is also a member of Mayors for Peace. Until December 2, more than 160 events were organized in nearly 50 different cities of the Region. This project, the first of its kind in the Region, was organized by the Yujo (“friendship” in Japanese) Association, under the patronage of the Groupe Dépêche Foundation, the Occitanie Region and the Japanese Embassy in France, in collaboration with the Japanese Consulate General in Marseille.
At the opening, Mayor Michaël Delafosse of Montpellier recalled his attendance at the 2022 Hiroshima commemoration day and emphasized how being part of Mayors for Peace helped deepen the Occitanie-Japanese friendship through inter-municipal cooperation for peace.
During the Week, Saori Ouziel, Japanese teacher at the Jules Guesdes High School, and the students organized workshops and events on the story of Sadako and Hiroshima: the animated movie, “L’oiseau Bonheur” (English title: “On a Paper Crane: Tomoko’s Adventure”) by Seiji Arihara and a testimony video of hibakusha Fumiko Amano were screened, Mayors for Peace Poster Exhibition was held at the school library, and the students folded more than 1,000 origami paper cranes to be sent to Hiroshima City.
On Monday the 28th, accompanied by Loréna Schlicht and Saori Ouziel, Consul General Yoshikazu Iwata of Japan in Marseille paid a visit to the Poster Exhibition, which reaffirmed the importance of passing on memories of the past, promoting nuclear disarmament and advocating peace in the Japan-French relationship.
Photos: courtesy of the Mayors for Peace France–AFCDRP