Hiroshima and Peace Program

Explore contemporary issues related to world peace in the era of globalization through this ten-day intensive summer course Hiroshima and Peace at Hiroshima City University (HCU) in Hiroshima, Japan. Take advantage of the opportunity to experience Hiroshima and its nuclear and peace legacies with other international students around the world.

Since 2004, the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa (UH Mānoa) has had the opportunity to send up to five students to HCU to participate in this unique program. Each summer, during the ten days that lead up to the annual commemoration of the August 6th, 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima, 25 foreign students from over a dozen countries and 25 Japanese students gather together on the HCU campus.

The aim of this summer course is to provide students with a general understanding of the short- and long-term effects of the atomic bombings and many other peace and justice topics. Lectures will be given by specialists in peace research with particular reference to cross-cultural perceptions, perspectives on peace and violence, nuclear weapons, Fukushima and nuclear energy, experiences of survivors, international law, and environmental issues. In addition to the lectures, the course will feature several special programs, including testimony from hibakusha, visits to the Atomic Bomb Dome and Peace Memorial Museum, and participation in the Peace Memorial Ceremony on August 6th.

Learn more about the Matsunaga Institute for Peace.