Speech at Caux Forum by Initiatives of Change2023年07月24日

“The state of trust in democracy” Session 1 In 1950 a delegation of 72 Japanese came to the MRA conference at Caux. (photo1) It included Mayor Hamai of Hiroshima City and seven members of parliament. (photo 2 Governors and Mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki) The Japanese National flag was shown, They saw the dramatic reconciliation between the Germans and the French. From there they visited the Pope in Italy, Chancellor Adenauer in Germany (photo 3) and Foreign Minister Schuman in France. (photo 4 Mayor Hamai presented a cross made from a tree at A bomb site to the Mayors of London, Berlin and New York) Then at the American Congress, the Japanese politicians apologized for what Japan had done in the war. (photo 5 A Japanese MP apologized and spoke of “Parable of the Prodigal Son” at the U.S. Congress) Eventually, Mayor Hamai decided to build a Monument in Hiroshima after a visit to the Unknown Soldiers Cemetery at Arlington. He made the inscription, “Sleep in peace. We shall not make the same mistake again” meaning Japan as well as the U.S. was responsible. Against criticism of why Japan was also responsible, he replied: “I was bombed. I felt that this might be the end of the world. It was not to inquire who was responsible, but to have a strong thought that this horrible thing must never happen again.” In May this year, a Summit meeting of the leaders of 7 Western economies was planned in Hiroshima. I thought that the story behind the inscription of the visit by Mayor Hamai to those victory nations and defeated nations in 1950 that now make up the G7 nations has to be told to those 7 leaders. Former Foreign Minister Nakasone who is the Chairman of a MPs group to support the IofC and son of Former Prime Minister Nakasone who had been in the same delegation as the Mayor took me to meet Prime Minister Kishida just before the Summit. (photo 6 from the left, Nakasone, Kishida, Fujita and Moriyama) In addition to the story behind the inscription, I suggested to him to use the proper English translation of it, instead of a translation the city used as “We Shall Not Repeat The Evil”. I said to the Prime Minister that some of those G7 nations who have nuclear weapons would not like to be described as evil, as President Putin justifies the war in Ukraine as fighting against the evil of Satanism. Eventually, a translator translated the word as “mistake” instead of “evil” when current Mayor Matsui explained to those 7 leaders. (photo 7) Prime Minister explained the spirit behind it on various occasions. The result of it is shown in the words written by President Biden in the guest book at the Peace Memorial Museum as follows. “May the stories of this Museum remind us all of our obligations to build a future of peace. Together let us continue to make progress toward the day when we can finally and forever rid the world of nuclear weapons. Keep the faith!” 　The magic of MRA worked in 1950. This year the spirit of Iof C was conveyed to 7 leaders as well as those leaders from the UN, EU, Ukraine, India, Brazil, South Korea, Indonesia, Australia, Union des Comores and Cook Islands who were in Hiroshima together. (photo 8, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Prime Minister Kishida) 　 (for your information) The final words of President Obama's speech in Hiroshima in 2016, "A future in which Hiroshima and Nagasaki are known not as the dawn of atomic warfare, but as the start of our own moral awakening."