Over the course of three days from February 10 (Monday) to 12 (Wednesday), the Youth Conference in Nagasaki, sponsored by the Nagasaki National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims, was held in Nagasaki City and was participated in by five students studying at the Graduate School of International Peace Studies: Seungin Chung (sophomore, from South Korea), Ankita Sehgal (sophomore, from India), Esther Garret (sophomore, from the United Kingdom), Chiara Polverni (freshman, from Italy), Paola Belluchi Ortolan (freshman, from Brazil).

The conference has been held from 2010 with the aim of building and expanding networks of peace among Asian youth. At the recent conference, approximately 30 faculty and students (undergraduate and graduate) from Malaysia, South Korea, and China gathered in Nagasaki. On day 1, a keynote speech was made by a hibakusha that was exposed to an atomic bombing air raid, and the participants visited the Nagasaki National Peace Memorial Hall and the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum. On days 2 and 3, the participants exchanged views on the theme of peace through group work and presentations.

One of the participants, Paola, shared: “One of my goals is to design virtual reality glasses through which people can experience Nagasaki and Hiroshima right after the atomic bombs were dropped. Through this project, I want to ensure that past events will not be forgotten, and I want to convey to as many people as possible the damage of atomic bombs in a way that people can feel it as something that is immediate. Participating in the conference in Nagasaki, I was able to create networks with researchers from various countries. I will cherish these encounters and continue to engage in my research activities, and I would like to hold a workshop under the theme of peace together with the five of us that participated from the Graduate School of International Peace Studies.”