WFC News
November 25, 2023
“Israel-Palestine Teach-in” with Dr. Masaki Mizobuchi
The escalating crisis in Israel and Palestine, especially the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the West Bank have shocked the world and our community.
In the process of seeking ways to help cultivate peace in the region as a member of civil society, we felt the need to better learn its historical background.
On 11/25, WFC invited Associate Professor Masaki Mizobuchi of Graduate School at Hiroshima University to give a broad overview of the current situation, its genesis and implications unraveling the contemporary history of Israel and Palestine.
The lecture began with an explanation of what has been happening since October 7, which was of great interest to the audience (in particular, what is Hamas and the relationship between Hamas and the general public), then about the Ottoman Empire that ruled the Israel-Palestine region and World War I that ended the empire and the root of problems that stemmed from it, the war and confusion caused by the founding of Israel, and why peace has still not been achieved to this day.
Dr.Mizobuchi called for us to continue learning and to raise our voices as citizens. This teach-in played a valuable role in helping us place the daily news stories into context, and provided us with the understanding and opportunity to explore this issue further.
One attendee shared that they had been “watching the news,” but attending the teach-in gave them confidence to begin educating themselves more fully on this important matter.
Thank you to all of the people who took the time to learn with us despite the teach-in being planned and announced at the last minute.
Our actions feel so small, but we hope they help light the way toward lasting peace.
Thank you to everyone who came out to the International Festa 2023!
This year was a lot of fun–for the second year, with hard-working volunteers from our WFC community, we sold Sloppy Joes and French Roast coffee at the Yatai on the greenway.
Inside the International Conference Center, we set up an information booth. We met over 70 people!
Two members of PAX, Tamiyuki-san and Soh-san, shared about their recent trip to the US, and our wonderful community members talked with Hiroshimans and foreigners all day.We believe that bringing together people from different backgrounds to share their food and their experiences is an important step toward cultivating peace. We enjoyed meeting many wonderful people and groups from different cultures in Hiroshima.
Thank you to all who came to visit us and to all who helped us make this happen!
WFC will hold its annual Holiday Party!
We hope to see you all at the end of the year for a fun time of socializing and fellowship.
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Date: Sunday, December 10, 2023, 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Venue: Ryugakusei Kaikan 2nd Floor Hall (Hiroshima City International House)
Fee: Free
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Please see the flyer for details.
English flyer >>
Japanese flyer >>
Everyone is welcome, including family, friends, first-timers, and anyone who want to stop by!
We look forward to seeing everyone there!
On October 29, 2023, we welcomed Leslie Sussan, author of “Choosing Life: My Father’s Journey in Film from Hollywood to Hiroshima”. Thank you to all who attended the talk.Choosing Life shares the experience of Sussan’s father, a cinematographer for the US government in 1946. His footage of Hiroshima and Nagasaki documented not just the effect it had on the cities, but also on the people, hibakusha (A-bomb survivors).
He spent over forty years working to release the footage that the US government classified as “secret” to the public.
We were grateful to learn from Leslie Sussan about her father’s effect on her life, Leslie’s relationship to Hiroshima, and her message about “the duty between generations to receive our parent’s stories, wisdom, and values to preserve them and to pass on to our own children that heritage.”
It made us realize the importance to recognize our interdependence and our effect upon the world.
We were surprised and pleased by the attendance of Nagai-Sensei, an organizer of the 10 Feet Campaign in Hiroshima, a civil movement which bought back the footage of A-bombed cities, that Leslie’s father has recorded, from the US government to share with the public at large. He shared his memories of work with the 10 Feet Campaign.
The evening ended with a chance for questions and answers from the audience. Thank you, Leslie for having such a heart for Hiroshima and we thank everyone for their attendance and engagement!
On October 18, 2023, we welcomed Ms. Susan Southard, author of “Nagasaki: Life After Nuclear War,” to Essor Hiroshima for a lecture. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the many people who attended the lecture, despite it being held in the evening.The book is a record of Susan’s long and sincere interviews with five Hibakusha (A-bomb survivors) about their experiences of the atomic bombing and their lives themselves. It is also a record of the lives of Hibakusha who worked so hard not to let anyone else experience the same suffering that they have.
Susan talked about her own life and along with thoughts of the many Hibakusha she has met and their photos, she shared not only of their experience of the atomic bombing, but also about who they each were.
Ms. Hisako Uchimura and Ms. Aiko Ohtani, who does readings at the Nagasaki National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims, came from Nagasaki and read excerpts from the book.
During Q&A, we were touched by the way Susan and Ms. Yasue Ujigawa, who translated the book into Japanese, carefully addressed and answered each person’s questions.
It was a time to share the importance of learning about Nagasaki in order to foster peace for the children’s future, to remember and pass on the experiences of the hibakusha, and to work together toward nuclear abolition.
We would like to thank everyone who attended, Susan and all the other speakers, and WFC’s fellow organizers: A Group of Legacy Successors and the Hiroshima YWCA. Thank you very much.