PEACE AND RECONCILIATION IN COMMEMORATION OF THE 80TH ANNIVERSARY OF HIROSHIMA/NAGASAKI AND THE END OF THE ASIA PACIFIC WAR
Subject to adjustments
Acknowledge our supporters: 響の会 (HIBIKI-NO-kAI), 銕仙会 (TESSENKAI), University of Sydney Chancellor’s Committee, Japanese Studies Association of Australia, and individual donors through crowdfunding (Richard Moxham, Hugh Clarke, Elizabeth Rechniewski, Margaret Harris, Allan Marett, Matsuru Okuda, Masatoshi Yamazaki, Andrew Carter, Hideyuki Doi, Fuyuko Yamashita, Yuri Takahashi, Terry Threadgold-Taylor, Shaynee Wellington, Judith Keene, John Keene, Satoru Omuta. ) Please Visit our Go Fund me Page for further details.
Display items:
Video, with English subtitles, of the burnt school uniform worn by the 14-year-old boy, Takeo Toshima, who died the day after exposure to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
The 1951 edition of Sankichi Tôge’s seminal Atomic Bomb Poems.
The powerful wood cut prints of the Hanaoka monogatari, (1951 edition) with the accompanying poems in English translation, are part of a reconciliation project depicting the harsh treatment of Chinese forced labourers by the Japanese Imperial Army.
A photograph of a joint work of the woodcut print, Remembering Hanaoka (2025) by a group of young Japanese artists A3BC.
A video display of the 1946 Noritaka Fukami’s picture scroll Storm Over Nagasaki with the narrative translated into English.
A series of photographs documenting the construction of the joint Sandakan memorial to honour all Malaysian war victims.
Monday 10 Nov, 10-5PM (CCWM)
12 noon
Display: Video of Storm Over Nagasaki (1946) with English translation on screen, 20 mins. (Courtesy by the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum)
3 PM
Display: Video of Takeo Toshima’s burnt school uniform with English subtitles, 20 mins. Visitors from Hiroshima may join the audience.
Tuesday 11 Nov, 10-5PM (CCWM)
10:00 Opening the 80th commemoration
10:05-11:00 Lecture and demonstration of Noh by Kanji Shimizu and members
of the Noh performing group, Tessenkai.
11:05-12:00 Gem Romuld on ICAN and The Japan Confederation of A- and H- Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo), winners of Australia and Japan Nobel Prize for Peace in 2017 and 2024.
12:00-13:00 Lunch Break
13:00-14:00 Ryoko Nakayama, Ryoko Nakayama, Jiji Press, an informal talk of her grandmother, Sachiko Hayashi (1929-2011), poet, hibakusha with public reading of her well-cited poem ‘The Sky over Hiroshima’. Followed by discussion.
14:00-15:00 Public Reading of Okori Jizo (Angry Jizo) by TokikoTsuchiya, Representative of the Association for Preservation of Literary Materials of Hiroshima, with subtitles in English. https://bungakuhozen.jimdofree.com/
The York Theatre at Seymour Centre
Cnr City Rd & Cleveland St, Chippendale
Holy Mother of Nagasaki
6 – 8 PM
Audience members should purchase their own tickets to the performance via the Seymour Centre Box Office: https://www.seymourcentre.com/event/the-holy-mother-of-nagasaki/
An Australian premiere, the modern Noh performance, Holy Mother of Nagasaki is directed by Kanji Shimizu and performed by twelve actors and musicians directly arriving from Japan for this once only performance. It is accompanied by the Gregorian Chants in eighteen male/female voices of the University of Sydney Graduate Choir.
17:30 Opening house
18:00 Opening address by Mr Osamu Yamanaka, Consul-General of Japan in Sydney
18:10 A Talk by Kanji Shimizu, director/main performer, on Holy Mother of Nagasaki
18:20 Intermission
18:40 Performance “Holy Mother of Nagasaki” (90 mins)
20:10 End of Performance
Download latest PDF schedule HERE.
Stone Monument at KampOng Campus, Kampung Tinuhan, Sabah, Malaysia
Wednesday 12 Nov, 10-5PM (CCWM)
Symposium on-line and in person – no fees but registration required
Peace and Reconciliation:
Intergenerational Impact of the Asia Pacific War
10:00 Opening Judith Keene (Chair)
10:05-12:00 War Crimes from Sandakan to Hiroshima: Personal Reflections
Keynote speaker, Emeritus Professor ANU John Braithwaite
Profile:
John Braithwaite is a distinguished criminologist with an interest in the role of restorative justice, which is a community-based approach to justice that aims to repair the harm done to victims, offenders and communities. He has been involved with researching and with other groups and victims affected by the Sandakan Death Marches, four of whom are here with us today and have generously agreed to speak about their experiences.
John’s father Dick Braithwaite was one of the six survivors of 2,434 Allied Prisoners of War who were forced to march without water, food and medicine. The Imperial Japanese army also lost 8,500 soldiers.
10:45-11.15 Cynthia Ong, Sabah, whose 7 family members were killed by the Japanese Army. Cynthia is the founder of LEAP (Land, Empowerment, Animals, People) an organization to facilitate sustainability in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo.
11:15-11:45 Richard Moxham, the son of the late William Moxham, one of the survivors of the Sandakan Death Marches.
11:45-12:15 Yoshio Baba, cousin of the grandson, the late Sadaoki Furui, of Lieutenant Masao Baba, the Japanese Commander of the Sandakan to Renau marches.
12:15-13:00 Lunch
13:00-13:45 Sandakan reconciliation, an informal talk around the display of Sandakan memorial images with John Braithwaite and the other survivors and members of the second generation
13:45-14:00 Yasuko Claremont on ‘Spreading reconciliation beyond Sandakan’ through Hanaoka monogatari (1951) plus Remembering Hanaoka (2025), a joint woodcut print by young artists.
14:00-14:30 Ryoko Nakayama on the story behind her grandmother’s poem, ‘The Sky over Hiroshima’.
14:30-15:30 Allan Marett on his English Noh, Oppenheimer (2015)
A discussion on ‘Whereabouts are the once-militarist girls now?’
15:30–16:00 Tomoko Aoyama on ‘Girls, Bombs, and Takarazuka’.
16:00–16:30 Barbara Hartley on ‘Was I ever a once-military girl? Komashaku Kimi’s
escapades in wartime Japan
Concluding discussion with all attendees until 5 pm Link to Abstracts/biographies: (TBA)
Stone Monument at KampOng Campus, Kampung Tinuhan, Sabah, Malaysia
Symposium Details
Intergenerational Impact of the Asia Pacific War
Keynote speaker, Emeritus Professor ANU John Braithwaite
A list of invited speakers
1. Ms Ryoko Nakayama, hibaku sansei, Tokyo, Jiji News journalist and actor. Her grandmother, the late Sachiko Hayashi, hibakusha was a well-known poet with ‘The Sky over Hiroshima’.
2. Gem Romuld, Australian Director at ICAN.
3. Allan Marett, Adelaide, Emeritus USYD Professor of musicology, a playwright of English Noh play, Oppenheimer, premiered in 2015 at the Conservatorium of Music, Sydney. Now shown in Tokyo, 2025.
4. Yoshio Baba, cousin of the late Sadaoki Furui, the grandson of Lieutenant General Yoshio Baba, the Commander of the Sandakan Marches.
5. Richard Moxham, Canberra, son of the late William Moxham, one of only six Australian survivors of the Sandakan Death Marches.
6. Cynthia Ong, a Sabahan, a founder of LEAP – ecological conservation in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, and one of the descendants whose family members were murdered by the imperial Japanese army.
Useful links to get to know the people above:
International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear weapons (ICAN): https://icanw.org.au
Sadakan Death Marches (SBC special in Japanese with English Subtitle): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOkiKTnFQeA&t=17s
John Braithwait: https://johnbraithwaite.com/about/
Cynthia Ong (LEAP) https://www.leapspiral.org/cynthia-ong
Hiroshima no ko (ひろしまの⼦, Children of Hiroshima), Gorô Shikoku (poem), Yoshifumi Hasegawa (illustrations), BL shuppan, 2025.
Thursday 13 Nov, 10-5PM (CCWM)
Informal talks
11:00 – 12:00 On poetry of Hiroshima: Sankichi Tôge’s seminal Atomic Bomb Poems and Public Reading of Hiroshima no ko (Children of
Hiroshima) by Tokiko Tsuchiya.
14:00 – 15:00 Video of Takeo Toshima’s burnt school uniform in 3 parts with English subtitles, 20 mins. Visitors from Hiroshima may join the audience.
Okori jizô (おこりじぞう, The Angry Jizô), Yûko Yamaguchi (author), Yôichi Numata (narrative), Gorô Shikoku (illustrations), Kinnohoshi-sha,1979.
Friday 14 Nov, 10-5PM (CCW Museum)
11:00 – 12:00 The moving image of Hanaoka monogatari (1951) with English translation plus Remembering Hanaoka (2025) and discussion
12:00 – 13:00 Round table discussion on peace and reconciliation in our time and beyond.
Saturday 15 Nov, 12-4 PM (CCW Museum)
1 PM Public Reading of Children of Hiroshima by Tokiko Tsuchiya and discussion. Folding origami cranes and writing on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Sunday 16 Nov, 12-4 PM (CCW Museum)
1 PM Public Reading of Okori Jizo (Angry Jizo) by Tokiko Tsuchiya and discussion. Folding origami cranes and writing on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Chau Chak Wing museum is free, and displays are open to the public.
Registrations essential, register here for symposium, in-person up to 100
If you wish to participate in this public engagement program in any way possible by volunteering, please contact Yasuko Claremont, yasuko.claremont@sydney.edu.au. We will be happy trying to accommodate you if available.
The organizing committee: Yasuko Claremont (yasuko.claremont@sydeny.edu.au), Mats Karlsson
(mats.karlsson@sydney.edu.au), Judith Keene (judith.keene@sydney.edu.au), Allan Marett
(allan.marett@gmail.com) and Roman Rosenbaum (roman.rosenbaum@sydney.edu.au)
Home Page: https://sites.google.com/view/80anniversary/home
Seymour Centre: https://www.seymourcentre.com/event/the-holy-mother-of-nagasaki/
Sydney University Graduate Choir https://singon.wordpress.com/2025/09/28/the-holy-mother-of-nagasaki-anoh-performance-with-choir/
Crowdfunding: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-us-remember-reconcile-renew-our-commitment-to-peace