Do you know what the above picture is?
These are remnant marks from the shots of Japanese fighter planes on December 7, 1941. The marks still exist today on Ford Island in Pearl Harbor. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Barrack Obama has visited the Arizona Memorial, and proposed the Hope and Reconciliation Alliance between Japan and America 75 years after WWII. There are many children as well as parents who have not experienced a war. I personally don’t know what it feels to be in a war, but I feel we need to preserve these historical sites.
The peace we have now was not given to us and is something we need to definitely keep protecting.
There is a city that strongly respects this idea and seeks to pass this down to the younger generations. This city is called Nagaoka, which is located in Niigata Prefecture in Japan.
Every year they send college, high school and junior high school students to Hawaii and visit historical sites affected by the war and hold symposiums and youth summits and create opportunities for the children to reflect on subjects about peace. Wouldn’t you agree that contemplating over peace is the first step to become a global citizen?
The junior high school students from Nagaoka visited the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific and offered flowers and bowed before the victims of war. We offer our thanks to them.