Yui Tamitani (center right) presents her school’s disarmament education materials to participating schools
Yui attended Hiroshima Jogakuin Senior High School in Hiroshima, Japan and attended the Critical Issues Forum in 2013. Growing up in Japan Yui was exposed to the world of nuclear weapons. It was this exposure that led to her interest in creating a more peaceful world. She decided to take part in a six year school program that puts special emphasis on not only nonproliferation, disarmament, and peace studies but also the history of nuclear weapons and effects of the Japanese Imperial Army across multiple Asian countries. Through this program she was able to participate in the CIF conference.
Yui is currently pursuing a degree in Global Studies at the International Christian University (ICU) in Tokyo. She isn’t sure exactly where the degree will take her but she hopes to continue working towards nuclear disarmament and world peace. Her experience of getting to know other cultures and people through CIF sparked her interest in studying abroad in a country completely different from those to which she was accustomed. Therefore, she decided to study abroad in Iceland to learn about local customs and culture and geography. While there Yui visited the location of the Reykjavik Summit, and learned more about what occurred there between President Regan and President Gorbachev, the historical, yet failed nuclear disarmament negotiation in 1986. She believes that learning this part of nuclear history will enhance her activities and argument for nuclear disarmament.
While at the Critical Issues Forum Yui was astonished to find that students from countries other than Japan shared her opinion about nuclear disarmament. She found it comforting to find out that she was not alone in her way of thinking and they were together in the fight for peace. Though she feels as though emotions and the longing for nuclear disarmament should be enough, through CIF she learned that it will take a lot of hard work and compromise to reach their goal. This is something that she will continue to work towards in her studies and future career as a result.
Directly following the CIF conference, Yui was one of three students selected to speak at the Mayors for Peace Conference in Hiroshima, Japan. She presented on the importance of peace education and effects of nuclear weapons. For example teaching about the effects of radiation on the body in health class or using survivor stories in language instruction. As the number of survivors still alive dwindles, education becomes more and more important to Yui.
Like many others in Japan, Yui feels it is part of her responsibility as a Japanese citizen, and especially a resident of Hiroshima, to spread and teach the stories and experiences of those in the 1945 atomic bombings. As the years go on there are fewer and fewer survivors to tell their own stories. It is becoming the responsibility of the younger generation and Yui plans to be part of the generation that remembers and teaches the atrocities of nuclear proliferation.
