Author, artist and Hiroshima survivor, Junko Morimoto, will address the Mayors For Peace Regional Conference in Fremantle next week.
Mayors for Peace is an international Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) pushing for the abolition of Nuclear weapons, and supporting local cultures of peace.
The 1945 atomic bombs that dropped in Hiroshima and, three days later, in Nagasaki, claimed some 200 000 lives.
If it weren’t for a tummy bug, which confined her to home that day, 13-year old Junko Morimoto would have been one of them.
Instead, she was sitting at home talking to her 20-year-old sister Teruko when the bomb was dropped.
As an illustrator and author, Junko has been able to skilfully retell her story as one of the remaining ‘hibakusha’, or ‘A-bomb survivors’, whose powerful purpose in life is to try and make sure there will be ‘no more hibakusha’ by the decommissioning of all nuclear weapons.
Nearly 70 years after that fateful day and now residing in Sydney, Junko is supporting Mayors for Peace in Fremantle for its inaugural conference by sharing her story with mayors, councillors and school groups who will be joining the wider invited community.
Fremantle has recently accepted Australian lead city status in Mayors for Peace, and is hosting a regional conference to which all Western Australian Mayors and Shire Presidents have been invited.
The public component of the conference includes a special community peace walk celebrating the international Day of Peace on 21 September and the public briefing by Junko Morimoto on 22 September.
