Record of Our Struggle: Atomic Bombing-Induced Illnesses and Class-Action Lawsuits
Kenji Urata, Vice-President of the International Association Of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms (IALANA), reviews a recent publication that records the legal struggle of those who have suffered illnesses induced by exposure to atomic weapons. This article is an English translation of the original Japanese, published 2012 in the journal Law and Democracy.
Teaching Peace from Tales of the City: Peace Education through the Memoryscapes of Nagasaki
To what extent can the memoryscapes of a city contribute to peace education? I argue that narratives both create and destroy the imaginaries of peace. The failure of peace museums to create an effective vision of peace reduces them to the level of historical museums. Using the framework of peace education, I explore the exhibitions, contents, objects, and messages presented in the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum and the Oka Masaharu Memorial Nagasaki Peace Museum. To demonstrate their contributions toward peace education, I analyze the power of narratives contained in these two peace museums and their positioning in the geography of peace education in Japan. Finally, I suggest which factors support the realization of peace education in peace museums.