information about Fukushima published in English in Japanese media info publiée en anglais dans la presse japonaise
6 Août 2013
HIROSHIMA--An American professor living in Hiroshima is getting the young descendants of hydrogen and atomic bomb survivors to tell their stories, as well as linking victims of nuclear weapons and accidents around the world, to prevent future tragedies.
Robert Jacobs, 53, an associate professor of the history of nuclear weapons and scientific technology at Hiroshima City University, settled near the city’s Mitakidera temple seven years ago. The old temple is well known for offering water of the falls on its grounds to the annual Peace Memorial Ceremony, held on Aug. 6 to commemorate victims of the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
Jacobs has interviewed a number of people at nuclear testing sites and in areas affected by nuclear accidents all over the world.
In the late 1960s, when the United States and the Soviet Union were locked in a nuclear arms race, Jacobs participated in a series of evacuation drills as an elementary school student in Chicago.
Jacobs said he thought at that time the world would come to an end before he became an adult. The feeling of fear inspired Jacobs to read a large number of books about the nuclear issue.
During his college days, Jacobs worked as an anti-nuclear activist between his studies.
Looking back, Jacobs said he had been involved with Hiroshima for most of his life without realizing it.
As he traveled around the world, Jacobs found that victims of nuclear weapons and nuclear plants, regardless of where they lived, were deceived by politicians and scientists and emotionally wounded.
Although they were told by politicians and scientists that nuclear testing and nuclear plants would do them no harm, the reality 10 or 20 years later was much different, Jacobs said.
He started the Global Hibakusha Project to help prevent more people from becoming nuclear victims.
In the project, Jacobs is training his graduate students and other grandchildren of hibakusha to record the oral histories of A-bomb survivors to pass down their experiences to future generations.
The stories of descendents of people on the Marshall Islands, who were exposed to fallout from U.S. nuclear bomb tests on Bikini Atoll in the 1940s and 1950s, are also being recorded.
The young Japanese and Marshall Islanders are being encouraged to interact with each other using a free online voice chat service
.
Next spring Jacobs plans to hold an event on the Marshall Islands in which young people from areas around the world that were once affected by nuclear weapons can talk face to face
.
On Aug. 6, Jacobs participated in a “die-in” protest in front of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial (Genbaku Dome), the building that withstood the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and became an international symbol of peace, on the anniversary of the 1945 bombing. He has taken part in the event every year since moving to the city.
Jacobs also said he would work toward connecting areas affected by nuclear weapons and accidents to reduce the number of future victims.
/image%2F1225368%2F20190314%2Fob_566073_child-evacuee-sspeakss-out.png)
/image%2F1225368%2F20190228%2Fob_9e5665_dossier-6.PNG)
/https%3A%2F%2Fassets.over-blog.com%2Ft%2Fcedistic%2Fcamera.png)