May 22, 2013

Representatives of an antinuke choir group in Nagasaki City on May 21 met with Mayor Taue Tomihisa to report about their concert tour in New Zealand in April under the theme of the abolition of nuclear weapons.

The group named “Journey for Peace” started delivering concert performances in 1985, the year marking the 40th anniversary of the A-bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, with the aim to increase public support for a nuclear-free world. Their feature performance is presenting the story of the late Watanabe Chieko, an A-bomb survivor in Nagasaki, through song and narration.

In April, they held their first overseas concert in Rotorua and Auckland in New Zealand.

In the meeting, group leader Ogasawara Kazuhiro said to the mayor, “We could fulfill our role to convey in songs what happened under the mushroom cloud in Hiroshima and Nagasaki 68 years ago.”

Expressing his admiration, Mayor Taue said, “Your tour shows the importance of going abroad for informing others about the A-bombing. I believe the audience felt your strong message despite the concert being performed in Japanese. The tour was a huge success.”

The group’s secretary general Matsushita Susumu explained their hope to perform more concerts abroad such as at the U.N. Headquarters in New York.