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8th Mayors for Peace Japanese Member Cities Meeting
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On November 5-6, 2018, the 8th Mayors for Peace Japanese Member Cities Meeting was held in Takayama City, Gifu Prefecture.
This meeting is held annually with the aim of enhancing Mayors for Peace activities in Japan.
This time, 148 members (including 39 heads of government) from 91 municipal governments attended.
Opening session
Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui, President of Mayors for Peace, gave a speech where he said he would like to work together with Mayors for Peace member cities and put all efforts into building an environment to provide support so that policymakers can act with reason and foresight towards the goal of abolishing nuclear weapons.
He asked for continued understanding and cooperation from member cities to abolish an "absolute evil", and achieve everlasting world peace.
Takayama City Program: Peace From Takayama
Next was the Takayama City program "Peace From Takayama" where conference participants were joined by many residents of Takayama City.
There was a solo performance by a soprano opera singer, a PR video about Takayama City, a presentation on peace initiatives in Takayama, peace video messages from overseas sister cities and friendship cities, an explanation of the Declaration of Takayama City as a "City of Peace", a presentation of peace activities and choir performance by Asahi Junior High School, a report by Takayama City residents who participated in the Mayors for Peace "Peace and Exchange" youth support project "HIROSHIMA and PEACE", and more.
Session I (reports on examples of peace activities)
For the first item on the program on Day 2, Mr. Hiroyuki Abe, mayor of Tama City in Tokyo, Mr. Toshiaki Tanahashi, mayor of Mizuho City in Gifu Prefecture, and Mr. Kazuhira Nishimura, mayor of Kasai City in Hyogo Prefecture, each gave reports on peace activities in their respective municipalities, as reference information for future activities by other municipalities.
Session II (reports, deliberation on bills, discussion), Session III (summary) and Closing Session
Next there were deliberations on bills, coordinated by Mayor Matsui as chair.
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Hiroshima Mayor Matsui (left) and Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue (right) chairing the
8th Japanese Member Cities Meeting
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Prior to the deliberation on the bills, the Mayors for Peace secretariat gave reports on the financial statement for 2017 fiscal year for Mayors for Peace membership, and reports on peace study courses implemented by A-bomb Legacy Successor and A-bomb testimony recital volunteers.
Next, Mr. Yasuyoshi Komizo, secretary-general of Mayors for Peace, reported on the global situation and Mayors for Peace initiatives.
This was followed by deliberation on the bills.
Members deliberated on activities to request membership to Mayors for Peace, the submission to the Japanese government of a request asking for promotion of initiatives for the abolition of nuclear weapons, and activities to create an environment where the wishes of the hibakusha from Hiroshima and Nagasaki can be shared with civic societies throughout the world.
The bills were approved.
The session ended with the adoption of the summary document, which incorporated an overview of the conference and other items.
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| (Peace and International Solidarity Promotion Division) |
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