News

In October of 2021, a church in Oregon in the United States, McMinnville Baptist Church, put on a  World Friendship Center.  Ed Groff, of Brethren Voices, has produced a program from the concert, along with images from Hiroshima filmed by Brent Carlson when he visited WFC in November of 2019 .  Mike Stern and Bill Jolliff were the featured musicians for the concert.

WFC is very familiar with Mike Stern since he has come to Hiroshima to share his music in the past.  Bill Jolliff is a professor of English at George Fox University, a school founded by Quakers in Oregon.  Both Mike and Bill’s music bring themes of peace, and justice, and faith and our need to act when we see an injustice in the world.

Personally, we are good friends with Mike, Brent and Ed and have met Bill in the past.  What a wonderful gift they have given us by capturing these songs from the concert.   We also want to thank the McMinnville Baptist church for their support for World Friendship Center by putting on this concert.  Though we are sure there were many helping hands to put on such an event, we wanted to recognize Erika Marksbury, pastor of the church, and Larry and JoAnn Sims, church members.  Erika, Larry and JoAnn are on the board of the WFC support organization, The American Committee of WFC, and Larry and JoAnn are past volunteer directors at WFC (2011-2013).

In these past two years during the pandemic there has been such an outpouring of support for WFC by the many friends of WFC over the years.  As our motto “fostering peace, one friend at a time” and our name “World Friendship Center” makes obvious, friends and friendship are at the core of WFC’s purpose to spread peace to the world.

And now the concert from Ed Groff of Brethren Voices:

Our February edition of “Brethren Voices” featured the concert that Mike Stern and Bill Jolliff did in October for the World Friendship Center.  You’ll find it on: WWW.Youtube.com/Brethrenvoices 

Roger and Kathy Edmark
Volunteer Directors (2019-2022)
World Friendship Center

January 12^th, 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.

The 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” ＞

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

On December 17, we had an online Hibakusha Testimony (with English interpretation) for the students taking the Global Understanding course at The Center for Foreign Language Education, Shimane University.

Over 45 students and teachers joined online from Japan, Taiwan, Costa Rica, and the U.S.

Before hearing the testimony, WFC gave a short introduction on the “History of Hiroshima.”

Then, Mr. Goro Nishida, who experienced the atomic bombing at the age of three shared his testimony.

During the Q&A, unique questions from a student’s perspective were asked, also helping us to learn.

Providing opportunities for people from around the world to hear testimonies from hibakusha is an important mission of WFC.

We would like to thank Carmella Lieske who contacted us and worked with us to make this happen, and for all of the help from the faculty and staff at The Center for Foreign Language Education.

The central mission of WFC, formed in 1965, has been to provide a place where hibakusha (A-bomb survivors) could give their testimonies. Last year, due to the pandemic, people could not come to Hiroshima to hear their stories. So, this year, we are bringing a hibakusha to you. We do not want another year of unheard testimonies!

On August 6,2021, 76 years since the atomic bomb was dropped over Hiroshima, we are holding an online event to hear a hibakusha tell his story.

The event will be in English with hibakusha testimony given in Japanese with English translation.
We invite everyone to sign up and join us online on August 6th.

CLICK HERE to REGISTER

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Zoom Event from Hiroshima on August 6, 2021
“A Hibakusha’s Message of Peace”

Date/Time

Japan (Aug 6): 10am-11am
USA (Aug 5): EST 21:00 | CST 20:00 | MST 19:00 | PCT 18:00
UK (Aug 6): 02:00
Europe (Aug 6): 03:00

Program

• Introduction of WFC and August 6th
• Importance of Hearing Hibakusha Stories
• Hibakusha Testimony with Slides

Speaker: Minoru Hataguchi

Minoru Hataguchi was exposed in utero when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. He is now 75 years old. He used to be the director of the Peace Memorial Museum from 1997 to 2006. For many years he has actively been telling his story as a message of peace so that the use of nuclear weapons will never happen again.

Listen to his testimony live on August 6, 2021.

—————————————–

CLICK HERE to REGISTER

<Download August 6th Event Flier>

To all the people involved in WFC,

Thank you very much for your warm support and cooperation with the WFC.

As you all know, the number of positive cases of the new coronavirus has been increasing in Hiroshima City since early April.  It is now at an unacceptable high level for the WFC; therefore, we would like to inform you of the following:

Effective immediately, April 29, 2021, all English conversation classes, events and activities will be held online only.

We will be closed for a period of time until the number of infected people in Hiroshima starts to decrease, and safety is confirmed. Please refrain from visiting the WFC and send your messages via email.

Thank you very much for your understanding and cooperation.
We hope that the new coronavirus will be resolved as soon as possible, and we sincerely hope for your safety and health.

WFC Chair, Michiko Yamane
WFC Directors, Roger & Kathy Edmark

Date: December 16, Saturday

Time: 1PM to 3PM

Place: WFC   

Participation fee: Free    

No present exchange

Program:

Peace Choir , Shin-chan’s show, Quiz,

Film:“Martin the Shoemaker”

Candle Service, etc

Please join us!

Helen Jaccard of the Phoenix of Hiroshima Foundation will be giving a public　presentation.
Friday, December 15 at 2:00 p.m.

English with Japanese translation
Phoenix of Hiroshima

The Phoenix of Hiroshima, a 50-foot, 30-ton yacht built by Miyajimaguchi boat builders for Dr. Earle Reynolds, is important in the post-war history of Hiroshima. After working as a scientific researcher in the ABCC project, Earle and Barbara Reynolds, two of their children, and a crew of three young Japanese men, set out for a round-the-world tour in 1954. As an act of protest, they sailed this boat into the Pacific Proving Ground (1958) used by the United States for the atmospheric testing of nuclear bombs. Reynolds was arrested and put on trial for this protest. After his release, his familyABCC project, Earle and Barbara Reynolds, two of their children, and a crew of three young Japanese men, set out for a round-the-world tour in 1954. As an act of protest, they sailed this boat into the Pacific Proving Ground (1958) used by the United States for the atmospheric testing of nuclear bombs. Reynolds was arrested and put on trial for this protest. After his release, his family sailed the boat back to Hiroshima. Barbara Reynolds became an outspoken advocate on behalf of Hibakusha and against nuclear weapons. She and citizens of Hiroshima traveled the world speaking out against nuclear weapons. In 1965, Barbara Reynolds started the World Friendship Center in Hiroshima as a way to carry on her work.

Several years ago the original Phoenix of Hiroshima was discovered underwater in the Sacramento River in California. Members of the Reynolds family and other interested parties established the Phoenix of Hiroshima Foundation to raise awareness of the history of this boat and to raise money to pay for the restoration of the boat.

World Friendship Center

8-10 Higashi Kan-on,
Nishi-ku Hiroshima, 733-0032 Japan

TEL 082-503-3191

Email worldfriendshipcenter@gmail.com