Peace Meeting in Nagasaki - Japan

Tsuyama Higashi Junior High School 3rd grade students
visited Nagasaki on a school trip from April 26 to 28. 
Nagasaki is the second A-bombed city of Japan. 
Atomic bomb victims there is said to be more than 
70,000.

This is Statue of Peace. It was huge! It is a 32 ft.
bronze statue sitting on a 13 ft. pedestal. The right
hand pointing to the sky symbolizes the Atomic bomb
and the left hand Peace. A lightning rod is equipped
on the forefinger of the right hand.

We listened to vivid stories by
one of atomic bomb victims. 
According to her, when the bomb
was dropped, it was as bright as
a flash of 10 lightning! 
Men became charcoal dolls in an
instant. I wonder what high 
temperature it was!

After that, we had a peace meeting.
We prayed in silence for the victims.
We donated a string of paper cranes
which we had folded before the
trip. 

Beside Peace Fountain there is 
a monument on which a bombed 
girl's words are carved.

" I was very thirsty. Something
�@like oil was floating on the 
  water. I was so thirsty that
  I drank the water."

There stood a statue on the way to Atomic Bomb Museum.
On the pedestal the following numbers were carved:

1945 8.9 11:02"

At the end of the peace meeting, representatives of
the students swore a peace pledge:

" In order to spread peace on the earth, we swear that
1. As a human being we will never hurt others.
2. We wil try to abolish nuclear weapons.
3. We will respect the preciousness of peace which �@
 �@we have learned and tell it to children in the future."


Reported by Sota (9th grade)
Translated by TORIGOE Yuko
Okayama, Japan
May 1, 2000