In order to fully understand the peace movement and the reasons why Hiroshima became a city of peace, we interviewed three people. Mr. Land, who lived in Hiroshima shortly after the Occupation came to our school to talk to us. 

The other two people we interviewed by email because they live in Japan. Matsubara san is a survivor and she answered our questions with the help of a translator, Kumi Itakura. Hayashi san answered the questions himself. Both these people are very involved in the peace movement.

We have been emailing 2 Japanese people who helped us with our research. Hisao Hayashi and Miyoko Matsubara.

Miyoko Matsubara

Ms. Matsubara was born in Hiroshima on August 31, 1932. On August 6, 1945 she was only 12 years old. She was working as a mobilized student for demolishing wooden houses in order to prevent fires, at a site 1.5 km away from the hypocenter of the A-bomb. She suffered serious injuries. For 7 months she received a total of 12 plastic surgeries on face, fingers, and arms in the city Osaka. Ms. Matsubara first worked as a live-in-care-taker for 30 sight handicapped orphan children at a social welfare building.

In 1962 she was chosen as one of the members for the first World Peace Pilgrimage and made a five month trip to fourteen countries including the U.S.A, Britain, France, Germany, and the Soviet Union, to appeal for a ban on nuclear testing. This was only the beginning of many trips to different countries with the purpose of appealing for world peace and a ban on Nuclear Testing. In 1966 she began work at the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation. In 1983 she published a book called " Pictures Drawn by Atomic Bomb Survivors, Tour America" Published by the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) Publishing Company, Tokyo.

During all these years Ms. Matsubara lost several relatives to illnesses related to the exposure to A-bomb. In 1988 she also underwent an operation due to breast cancer. In 1993 she retired after 27 years of service at the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation.

Ms. Matsubara has devoted her life to traveling around the world and presenting exhibitions of A-bomb photo posters, pictures drawn by survivors, and telling about her story to various organizations, schools, churches, and Universities to appeal for a nuclear weapons-free world.

Here is a website with the profile of Miyoko Matsubara: http://www.csi.ad.jp/ABOMB/miyoko/profile.html.

Hisao Hayashi

Mr. Hisao Hayashi  lives in Hiroshima. He is a music teacher, and he is also the director of the Hiroshima Boys’ Choir. Sometimes Hisao takes them to other countries. They have performed in many places. Last October they performed in Nashville, Tennessee. They performed in two concert halls and 8 schools. In 1988 the Boy’s Choir visited Portland, Oregon. Last year Portland Mt. Hood Youth Choir came to Hiroshima.

Here is the website on Mr. Hisao’s Choir http://www.spaceformusic.com/symposium2000.