FUKUOKA —
Japanese artist Seitaro Kuroda and a Hiroshima citizens group
are aiming to publish a picture book in late July that explains in
an easy-to-understand manner a protocol proposed by an
international group of mayors calling for nuclear
elimination.
Kuroda, 70, said he proposed publishing such a book that can be
read easily by children after perusing the protocol and thinking
that it contained good elements but was ‘‘rigid with too many kanji
characters.’’
The book will feature illustrations by Kuroda, including that of
the mushroom cloud and flowers, and explanatory text by Michi
Matsugami, a copywriter who lives in Hiroshima, as well as their
English translations.
It will include anti-nuclear peace messages from students in
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the two Japanese cities on which the U.S.
military dropped atomic bombs during World War II.
The citizens group will self-publish the 64-page book, printing
about 5,000 copies to be sold for 500 yen each.
‘‘It’s sad that the general feeling is that once the anniversaries
of the atomic bombings are over, you don’t have to console the
souls (of the victims) until the next year,’’ said Kuroda, who
lives in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture.
‘‘I want the picture book to work as a catalyst for people to hold
discussion by passing it from hand to hand and asking, ‘What do you
think about this book?’’’ he added.
Mayors for Peace, chaired by Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba and
with more than 2,000 members worldwide, proposed the
Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol in April last year.
The protocol seeks an immediate stop to all efforts to obtain or
use nuclear weapons, including by nuclear states, with a view to
eliminating nuclear arms by 2020.