ANT-Hiroshima supports the Hibakusha Appeal, an international signature campaign calling for the ratification of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons by all nations.
However, rather than always focusing on the activities of NGOs, activists, or international organizations, today we would like to highlight the work of individual Hiroshima citizens who contribute to the campaign.
Kyōko Fujitaka
Kyōko Fujitaka works at an apparel shop in the Mitsukoshi department store. Two years ago, she began talking with Takako Morii, a regular customer and ANT-Hiroshima volunteer. Inspired by Morii-san’s stories of her work with The Clouds in Summer Won’t Forget, Fujitaka-san felt she too wanted to do something for Hiroshima and peace.
Around the beginning of 2017, the two spoke about another peace activity Morii-san was participating in, the Hibakusha Appeal signature campaign. Fujitaka-san agreed to lend a hand. She asked family members, friends, coworkers, and regular customers to sign, as well as acquaintances from her job at a cosmetics company and people she met at work parties. When others wanted to participate, Fujitaka-san gave them blank forms so they could go collect signatures themselves.
Until then, Fujitaka-san had never participated in peace- or disarmament-related activities. She was born and raised in Hiroshima, and her mother and grandmother are hibakusha. Her grandfather, who worked near what is now the Atomic Bomb Dome, died the day of the bombing. Although her grandmother took her to ring the Peace Bell in Peace Memorial Park every summer, Fujitaka-san didn’t think seriously about the atomic bombing or her own connection to it until she was an adult.
Fujitaka-san said the vast majority of people she talks to about the Hibakusha Appeal agree to sign. To her, the strong point of a signature campaign is its simplicity. Everyone can participate. Fujitaka-san asks for signatures without going into too much detail about the campaign and without being part of any official group. She began her work because of her connection to Morii-san, and she believes people agree to sign from similarly simple motives — they are from Hiroshima, and they support nuclear disarmament.
Currently, Fujitaka-san has collected over 200 signatures. She humbly said she is not satisfied with that number, and she will continue doing what she can to support the campaign.
Mie Higashi and Yoshiko Tanaka
Higashi-san and Tanaka-san began collecting signatures two months ago, after ANT-Hiroshima Executive Director Tomoko Watanabe encouraged them participate in the campaign.
The pair run a hair salon in Hiroshima’s Misasa neighborhood, and Tomoko-san has been their client for the past 30 years. As one does at a salon, the three chatted whenever Tomoko-san would come for a haircut, and naturally the conversation would turn to work. After sharing that ANT-Hiroshima was supporting the Hibakusha Appeal campaign, Tomoko-san asked Higashi-san and Tanaka-san if they would participate too.
Wishing to do more than just collect family members’ signatures, the two placed blank forms on the front counter of their salon. They ask regular customers, people they already have established relationships with, to sign. So far, no one has refused. Some offer to write the names of their family members as well, while others take home a form to share with acquaintances.
Like Fujitaka-san, this is the first time Higashi-san and Tanaka-san have participated in peace activities. When I asked, “Why now?” Higashi-san responded, “Because of Tomoko-san. We trust her.”
The two also think most people living in Hiroshima, no matter where they were born, would be willing to sign because peace-related issues are part of Hiroshima daily life. Whether or not to actively engage is up to the individual, but there’s no denying that peace education in schools, news coverage around August 6, and a host of other events and institutions have an impact on citizens’ consciousness and identity.
When asked whether they had anything else they wished to convey, Higashi-san and Tanaka-san looked pensive, then simply stated, “We don’t want war.”
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A signature campaign is largely built on trust. As Higashi-san and Tanaka-san pointed out, without it, no one would write their address on the petition form.
A simple act with simple motives is the heart of these citizens’ work. Any attempt there might have been on the part of the interviewer to fish for a more complex story or a hot take on activism was rebuffed. Trust built on personal relationships and the potential for cooperation therein was the message, loud and clear.
