Koko Kondo - Hiroshima Hibakusha and international peace advocate

Sunday, October 16, 2016

Joint meeting by SIETAR Kansai and JALT Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe and Nara

• Koko Kondo is the youngest Hiroshima hibakusha (atomic bomb survivor) who has a very important message of peace for people all over the world. Although in her early years, she did not want to tell people that she was a hibakusha, later she told her husband, “If I don’t do anything for Hiroshima, then my life is meaningless.” Since then she has been tireless in her efforts to promote peace and understanding, traveling around the world speaking to young and old. She is most proud of the fact that when President Obama was in Hiroshima he mentioned her in his speech: “We see these stories in the hibakusha--the woman who forgave a pilot who flew the plane that dropped the atomic bomb, because she recognized that what she really hated was war itself.” She will tell us this story firsthand. Ms. Kondo attended Centenary College for Women in Hackettstown, New Jersey, and then studied in the College of Arts and Sciences at American University in Washington, DC. For many years she has worked for peace through an organization called Children as Peacemakers, and she is a board member of the Tanimoto Peace Foundation. She adopted two children herself and has helped to place many children in adoptive homes. She often accompanies the American University Nuclear Study Institute’s annual study abroad trip to Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Kyoto. She has traveled the world with her heartfelt and moving message of peace.
• Venue: Takatsuki Sogo Shimin Koryu Center (one minute from JR Takatsuki Station) Tel. 0726-85-3721
• Event 14:00am-17:00pm
• Free Members and Students, 500 Yen for Non-Members
• Link to webpage for the venue
• We will have a meal after the session at a nearby restaurant. Reservations for dinner required by Wednesday, October 12. Contact fujimotodonna@gmail.com