Photos of Hiroshima peace calendars for fiscal 2022 are seen on Dec. 16, 2021. (Mainichi/Isamu Gari)

       HIROSHIMA -- A local institute, which has been producing the "Hiroshima peace calendar" to help children learn about the value of peace, has completed the fiscal 2022 version featuring the peace museum of a local elementary school, where messages written in the wake of the atomic bombing have been preserved.

       The Hiroshima Institute for Peace Education (HIPE) in Hiroshima's Higashi Ward, which is made up of teachers and staff from elementary and junior high schools, began producing the calendars in 1982, and the one for fiscal 2022 titled "Messages" is the 41st version.

       The Municipal Fukuromachi Elementary School in Naka Ward is located 460 meters from the hypocenter. Immediately after the bombing, people wrote messages all over the school's walls as they sought the whereabouts of family members and children. One read, "First-year student at this school, unknown if dead or alive, begging for news, from her mother."

       The new calendar conveys the reality of wartime from children's perspectives, including the fact that they were separated from their families during the evacuation of schoolchildren and that many children became "A-bomb orphans." It also uses photos of the school in the immediate aftermath of the A-bombing, in which only a few children and teachers survived, and of messages left on the walls.

       The calendar begins in April 2022 and also shows dates of past peace-related events. For the previous fiscal 2021 edition, themed on "the former military city of Hiroshima," orders were received from outside the prefecture as well, and a total of 2,200 copies of the calendar were published, including those for distribution to the institute's members.

       Naofumi Abe, executive director of the institute, explained the reason for selecting the fiscal 2022 edition's topic, saying, "I think that the messages to look for loved ones are now a message to us: 'Never repeat the same mistake again.'"

       "In order to keep the memory of the atomic bombing alive, it is important for people to learn about it themselves. I hope the calendar will help people to do so," Abe continued.

       The fiscal 2022 edition is B4 size, 28 pages, and costs 1,000 yen (about $8.80) each (excluding delivery fees). To order it, please contact Hiroshima Prefectural Educational Supplies at 082-264-1750 (in Japanese).

       (Japanese original by Isamu Gari, Hiroshima Bureau)

       Font Size S M L Print Timeline 0