I met with Nii-san and Justin today for the first time in order to discuss what we hope to accomplish while in Hiroshima. During the meeting, we communicated four of our primary goals:
- Meet and conduct interviews with as many of the original artists as possible
- Meet and conduct interviews with high school and middle school students in the Junior Writers program at the Chugoku Shimbun. From my understanding, many of these students are aspiring writers and have done a considerable amount of work surrounding the bombing, including interviews with nuclear bomb survivors.
- Meet Professor Robert Jacobs, a professor who studies nuclear politics, which encompasses the ways in which the bombing continues to affect communities in Hiroshima today. I hope to interview Professor Jacobs about his work surrounding the bombing and experience living and working in Hiroshima. Additionally, I hope to ask him about the significance of post-WWII art exchanges in Hiroshima, especially those involving children.
- Meet and conduct interviews with schoolchildren at elementary schools involved in the initial art exchange. By doing this, as well as interviews with schoolchildren in Hikone, we can begin to answer the questions I brought up in my last post.
Although I had some difficulty with my language skills, I think these goals were effectively communicated with Justin’s help. Fortunately, Nii-san has agreed to help us on all of these fronts. Regarding the original artists, three have already agreed to interviews, so during the next week we will establish the logistics for these meetings. Furthermore, Nii-san told us about an event on July 9th where Junior Writers will be listening to a classmate of Sadako Sasaki speak in front of the monument dedicated to Sadako. If the Junior Writers agree to it, we will be allowed to attend the event and speak with them afterwards. With regards to Professor Jacobs, Nii-san mentioned that he his a friend of hers, and she will do her best to put us in contact with him. It’s possible that he’s not in Hiroshima right now as a result of his research, but I’m hoping we’ll be able to speak with him by the end of the month. Finally, I will be going to Funairi Elementary School with Nii-san this Monday, the 4th, in order to speak with the principal about conducting interviews. One of the artists I will be interviewing attended Funairi, so I think it will be fascinating to see the environment at the school and learn about the space in which many of these drawings were created.
On a final note, Nii-san told me about the database of atomic bomb victims kept at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. After our meeting, for the first time, I was able to see pictures and learn information about my extended family who were lost in the bombing. I felt deeply moved by this experience, and it reaffirmed the resolution with which I hope to continue working on this project.