British students to visit Hiroshima to gain unique perspective on war

0 Comments | Asian Political News, August 4, 2008

LONDON, July 31 Kyodo

A group of two dozen 17-year-old British students will visit Hiroshima to attend the annual August service marking the anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city, to gain a unique perspective on the issue of conflict.

The students and four accompanying teachers are from the Boswells School in Essex, east of London, which won a national competition for the all-expenses-paid trip, courtesy of an innovative education project called ''Their Past Your Future'' led by the Imperial War Museum in London.

''Our school is a very good school in a very good area but it's a very homogenous white, middle class school and the students haven't got particularly broad horizons in many ways. They're quite insular and we wanted to unpick that, so that was what drove us to compete to take part in the opportunity,'' Boswells School head of Humanities, Rob Bell, told Kyodo News.

''It's difficult to say what response we'll see until we actually get out there, but I've already been surprised by some of the responses of the students just from the preparatory work we've done with the Imperial War Museum,'' Bell said.

''Two main things have become apparent: the students have realized that the themes of conflict aren't so alien to them and actually could have involved family members in past generations, and they've acquired a much greater appreciation of other cultures and societies and I don't think that can be underestimated,'' said Bell, who will accompany the students on the trip.

The initiative, financially supported by the Big Lottery Fund, was established in 2004 with government encouragement as part of Britain's marking of the 60th anniversary of World War II and aims to increase young peoples' understanding and appreciation of history, national identity and civic responsibility through learning programs.

''It's meant to be a holistic, all-encompassing learning experience as opposed to just learning facts and figures about the war and that's why we include cultural visits as well as historical ones,'' the program's deputy director, Dan Phillips, said. ''We want to open young peoples' eyes to the entire culture and society.''

''It then makes learning about the war and conflict and that experience much more meaningful because it's been put into context properly, and just by broadening peoples' cultural experience makes them more informed citizens back in the U.K.,'' he added, citing reciprocal benefits for both Britain and Japan.

Running from Saturday to Aug. 10, the trip will begin in Kyoto and take in sites of significance relating to Japan's heritage and cultural traditions, as well as the Kyoto Museum for World Peace at Ritsumeikan University.

In Hiroshima, the students will take part in a cultural exchange session with a local school, interview an atomic bomb survivor, visit the Hiroshima Peace Park Museum and Memorial and participate in the commemorative service on Aug. 6 as invited observers in the official delegation.

The visit will culminate in excursions to the Edo-Tokyo Museum, the Yasukuni Shrine and Yushukan Museum, and the firebomb sites in the Hiranuma district of Tokyo, as well as the Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery at Yokohama.

''At the school we aim to encourage our students to examine the world around them from alternative perspectives, so visiting these sites and talking to people who were actually there during the event of the Second World War is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our students,'' the head of the Boswells School, David Crowe, said ahead of the trip.

Phillips also sees the visit to Japan as a valuable way of creating a bridge between the past and the present, and as a unique experience in gaining a perspective on conflict from within the only country to have had nuclear weapons used against it in war.

''Japan presents such a different way of looking at conflict because you've got a dichotomy: the treatment of allied prisoners of war by the Japanese and the harsh conditions in Thailand, Burma and Japan itself, and the flip-side of that being the suffering that the Japanese experienced both through the firebombing campaign and the atomic bombs, so it's a very interesting contrast,'' Phillips said.

''We will use the nuclear attacks as a starting point to explore the importance and impact of these events specifically, but also view the conflict, its roots and repercussions from a Japanese perspective alongside a more traditional Western view,'' he said.

''By focusing on the Japanese experience of the 20th century conflict, its impact on people, places and culture, the students will gain a unique perspective on these issues, and how they affect their own lives and values today,'' he added.

Phillips' confidence in the ''Their Past Your Future'' 2008 Japan initiative is well-founded as a similar tour, which also included Thailand, took place in 2005 and numerous others to many destinations including Canada and the United States, New Zealand and Singapore, as well as European battlefields, have proved successful.