Thirty years ago the city of Sagamihara in north-central Kanagawa Prefecture, close to Tokyo, declared itself a “City of Peace and Nuclear Weapons Abolition”.
To celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of its peace declaration, Sagamihara organized several activities including a competition for the city’s elementary and junior high school children to design peace posters.
The winners of the peace poster competition took on the role of temporary peace ambassadors for Sagamihara. They travelled to Hiroshima to engage in peace activities. While in Hiroshima, they met Tomoko Watanabe of ANT-Hiroshima.
Here are two of the winning posters. The first was designed by elementary school pupil Anon Oyama. The message reads,
Te o tsunageba buki wa motenai!!
You don’t hold weapons when you join hands!!
Here is the winning peace poster by junior high school pupil, Sana Goto. The message reads:
Ano kanashimi o hikisuide … heiwa no onegai o Nihon kara
(May) prayers of peace from Japan … overcome that grief
