Chugoku Newspaper – WFC Booklet

2022-01-12

Chugoku Newspaper Article 2022.01.12January 12th, 2022

Happy New Year to all.
Thank you very much for always supporting the World Friendship Center.
We hope 2022 will be a great year for all of us.

 

Immediately after the beginning of the new year, Hiroshima experienced a rapid spread of coronavirus infection and declared a semi-emergency coronavirus measures. This is quite unfortunate, after spending a somewhat peaceful period from the fall to the end of the year.

 

But good news has come to wipe out such a stifling mood.
An article was published on Chugoku Newspaper this morning, January 12th, 2022, titled,  
“WFC published a booklet: Remembering Barbara Reynold’s Thoughts.”
We are truly grateful for having WFC covered in the article like this.

 

Barbara Reynolds, an American woman, appealed for the “total abolition of nuclear weapons,” from an early-stage walking alongside the hibakusha and their struggles. Unfortunately, the fact is that it’s difficult to find a person who knows about her in Hiroshima, 77 years after the a-bombing.

 

Barbara, who always walked alongside the hibakusha said,

“I, too, am a hibakusha”

We, a generation who knows neither about the a-bomb or the restoration after the war, still continue to think about how Barbara Reynolds, an American, attained this state of mind in the a-bombed Hiroshima.

 

WFC BookletThe booklet introduced in the newspaper were made by WFC’s “Future Committee” in hope that it will help as many people as possible to learn about Barbara Reynolds’ thoughts and the World Friendship Center. We tried to make the contents understandable, with children visiting Hiroshima on school trips in mind. The booklet is available in Japanese and English and is given out for free.
If you wish to have a copy, please contact WFC.

 

Read the booklet “Barbara Reynolds and WFC” ＞

 

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【English translation of the Chugoku Newspaper article 2022.01.12】
 
The World Friendship Center (WFC, Chairperson Michiko Yamane), a Non-Profit Organization located in Nishi-ward, Hiroshima, created a booklet about the life of Barbara Reynolds (1915～1990), WFC’s founder and a peace activist. The booklets are available in Japanese and English.
 
Those affiliated with WFC say that their wish is for many people to know about Barbara, who walked alongside the hibakusha through their struggles, and to understand her heart when she said, “I, too, am a Hibakusha.”
 
She came to Hiroshima in 1951 with her husband who was dispatched to ABCC (Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission, currently Radiation Effect Research Foundation). Her thoughts against nuclear weapons grew. The booklet introduces the brave actions she took such as the voyages by yacht to protest the nuclear testing done by the U.S. and U.S.S.R., and the “World Peace Pilgrimage,” in which she, along with hibakusha, conveyed the tragedy of the atomic bombing in various countries. It also notes that WFC, which was founded in 1965 with the late Dr. Tomin Harada, has a motto which is based on the belief that “building friendship by people meeting and talking to each other is what leads to peace.”
 
WFC has since been a place where people from around the world gather and listen to the testimonies of hibakusha who voluntarily share their experiences. However, due to COVID, the number of foreign tourists visiting Hiroshima has been drastically decreased. Mr. Katsumi Takahashi (72), a Board member, says, “we felt that this was the time to strengthen how we send out the message of peace, and that’s what we put into this booklet.”
 
“Barbara Reynolds and World Friendship Center” is printed in A-5size, 8pages, in Japanese and English, and is available free of charge. Please contact 082 (503) 3191.
 
 
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