“Shadows for Peace, For the Sake of the Children — The Hiroshima and Nagasaki Experience,” a forum and art exhibit, will be presented on Sunday, Aug. 2, at 2 p.m. at the San Fernando Valley Japanese American Community Center, 12953 Branford St. in Pacoima.
Many Japanese American families has relatives in the Hiroshima and Nagasaki areas, so news of the Aug. 6 and 9, 1945 atomic bombings’ role in Japan’s surrender brought mixed blessings to families still in the camps. Sons serving in the Pacific Theater would now be safe and no longer concerned about facing Japanese relatives in battle, but many of these distant relatives faced a devastation that no one could fully comprehend.
All are welcome to this free event. Junior and senior high school students are especially encouraged to attend this rare opportunity to learn about this historical milestone.
Among the questions to be explored: Why was the bomb dropped? Was it necessary? Was the second bomb really necessary? What was the immediate and ongoing impact?
Hiroshima hibakusha (atomic bomb survivor) Wataru Namba will share his personal experiences. Hear additional recorded accounts from Nagasaki and Hrioshima.
A video interview with Dr. James Yamazaki, who in 1949 was assigned as physician-in-charge of the U.S. Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission in Nagasaki, will be shown.
Hear reflections by John Cobb, a prominent theologian and ethicist who was born in Japan, raised there until the age of 15, and later returned as a member of the U.S. military during the postwar occupation of Japan.
For more information, contact Phil Shigekuni at (818) 893-1581 or pshig2000@verizon.net.
Sponsored by the San Fernando Valley JACL, Council for Pacific Asian Theology, and Shadows for Peace (Richard Fukuhara and Robert Horsting).