HIROSHIMA: Since the age of seven, Japanese schoolboy Shun Sasaki has been offering free guided tours to foreign visitors of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park with a mission: ensuring that the horrors of nuclear war do not fade from memory with the passage of time.
Aged 12 now, Shun has conveyed that message to some 2,000 visitors, recounting in his imperfect but confident English the experiences of his great-grandmother, a ‘hibakusha’ who survived the atomic bomb.
“I want them to come to Hiroshima and know about what happened in Hiroshima on August 6,” Shun said in English, referring to the day the bomb was dropped in 1945.
“I want them to know how bad is war and how good is peace. Instead of fighting, we should talk to each other about the good things of each other,” he said.
About twice a month, Shun makes his way to the peace park wearing a yellow bib with the words “Please feel free to talk to me in English!” splashed across the back, hoping to educate tourists about his hometown.
