Photo/Illutration From left: Haruna Shimazu, Rin Tsuda, Natsuki Kai and Yuka Ohara, who serve as Hiroshima and Nagasaki Peace Messengers, speak about their trip to Oslo at a news conference in Tokyo on Dec. 14. (Asako Hanafusa)

Four high school students who returned from the Nobel Peace Prize awards ceremony in Oslo are feeling more confident about the role young people can play in passing down calls by aging hibakusha for a nuclear-free world.

At a news conference on Dec. 14, the students, who serve as Hiroshima and Nagasaki Peace Messengers, said the five-day trip to Norway showed that the campaign’s slogan, “Impacts May Be Small, But Not Powerless,” holds true.

“Wherever they are, the voices of hibakusha touch everyone’s heart,” said Yuka Ohara, a second-year student at Nagasaki Nishi High School. “That is exactly why we need to deliver them to as many people as possible.”

In addition to attending the awards ceremony and dinner, Ohara and her colleagues visited a high school, a university and other places to speak about what hibakusha experienced as survivors of the 1945 atomic bombings and the movement to abolish nuclear weapons. 

They discussed the importance of peace education from the perspectives of human rights and democracy and deepened exchanges with participants.

“It may be difficult to convey the thoughts of hibakusha 100 percent,” said Haruna Shimazu, a second-year student at Kyushu Gakuin High School in Kumamoto.

“But I renewed my determination to continue to communicate them as a member of the ‘last generation’ that can hear their testimony.”

Natsuki Kai at Motomachi Senior High School in Hiroshima said she was impressed by a group of young people that makes policy recommendations in Norway and intends to organize discussion sessions in Hiroshima.

“We can assume more responsibility for the future if we increase chances for young people to participate in politics,” said Kai, a second-year student.

Next year will mark the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

“It does not matter whether 99 years or 100 years pass after the atomic bombs were dropped,” said Rin Tsuda, a second-year student at Nagasaki Higashi High School. “We want to keep opportunities open to carry on and hand down the activities hibakusha have maintained.”

The peace messengers’ activities started in 1998 when a group of hibakusha in Nagasaki dispatched high school students to the U.N. headquarters in New York to deliver signatures calling for abolition of nuclear weapons and protesting nuclear tests.

This year, 23 students from 17 prefectures were designated as peace messengers.

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