 This is St. Tech, Hawaii. Humanity matters here. I'm Marsha Joyner, and we are navigating the journey. Navigating the journey is dedicated to exploring the options and choices in life. Today, August 9, we will explore a journey that no one should ever have had to experience. August 9, 1945 marked the day of triumph and tragedy. The triumph of the wars ending that ushered in the tragedy that would become the nuclear age. August 9, 1945, that's the pan-time, but we get this all mixed up. But anyway, it was a busy day in the history of World War II. The United States dropped a nuclear bomb on Japan, devastating the city of Nagasaki. The Soviet Union followed through with an agreement that they made early in the war, and they declared war on Japan. August 8, August 8 in Washington, President Truman, was the first step that many Americans hoped would mean that we would have peace in this world more. The President signed the United Nations Charter, thus completing the American ratification of the document. In doing so, the United States became the first nation to complete ratification. At that moment, the atomic bomb just blew the hell out of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. About 420,000 people died. And who knows how many continued to die after that one day. That includes a group of people that most of us don't talk about, the Korean people who had been drafted into the Japanese military and forced to work as Japanese during the war. The mayor of Nagasaki wrote, and I quote, decades have passed since that day. Now the atomic bomb survivors are advancing into old age and their memories are fading into the midst of it. The question of how to inform our young people about the horrors of war, the threat of nuclear weapons, and the importance of peace. Therefore, it is a matter of pressing concern. The citizens of Nagasaki pray that this miserable experience will never be repeated on Earth. We also consider it our duty to ensure that the experience is not forgotten, but passed on to future generations. We must tell this story. We must tell it in every generation. Not about winning or losing, but about the catastrophe of the conflict, the devastation of the deaths and destruction, the inscapable suffering of war as well as people who died that day. Some were just living their lives as young people. So now we tell the story. And we tell it here in Hawaii every year since 1991. The Nagasaki Peace Bill is a gift from the people of the city of Honolulu, to the city of Honolulu, by the survivors of the atomic bombing in Nagasaki. Recognizing the true steps to peace must begin with acknowledgement of harmful actions in the past. Survivors in Nagasaki wished to make a gesture of reconciliation to the people of the city and county of Honolulu, which sustained a military attack on December 7th. Here, we have a little replica of the bill, which was given to me by the people, by the Habapasha of Nagasaki, because, along with my guests today, we have made sure that the bill has been wrong twice a year, every year since 1991. Francis and Val Biglielmo, who have both passed this year, worked with the Congress Against Atomic and Hydrogen Bomb Committee in Nagasaki. The Nagasaki Prefecture Members Association, they were the victims of this horrible, horrible condition, and they raised the money to create the statue and make the bill. They gave a bill to every city that the Japanese bombed, and every bill was different, of course, but that was their way of acknowledging what they did. And it was through these mutual efforts that a group of people managed to have this beautiful bill here on the grounds of Honolulu Hall. Now, we'll get into the weeds. Of course, you know I was going to talk about the weeds. Right? Fosse did not want anything to do with the bill, nothing, because he had been a Marine in the war. He was still fighting the war. So the fact that the people of Nagasaki gave us the bill, and the people of Hiroshima gave the city a bill, he put them in storage, didn't want anything to do with it. So it was Francis and Val working with hundreds of people to get them out of story and find a place for them. So the temple in Japan, what used to be Japan Town, said we'll put it on our property. And so we managed to have... The Hiroshima bill. That's the Hiroshima bill. We managed to have some really super people in the city council at the time, and they overrode Fosse's upset. So that's why the bill... At the time, there were no buildings down there. And the bill was placed in this valley, beautiful valley. And Walter Ozawa said that because Nagasaki sits in a valley with the mountains on both sides, he thought it was appropriate that it be in this valley. So that is the story of the bell. Now, my friend Joanne. Joanne Tachibana and I have been together on this bell thing since 1991. Joanne was at the city for 40 years. 41. Oh my God. How do you put up with those? She was in council services, right? Off of the city clerk with service to city council. She has seen city council come and go. And mayors. And mayors. And mayors, yes. We were not going to talk about that. I promised he would. We weren't going to talk about it. So Joanne, talk, talk, talk, talk. Tell me about Joanne. I think I know Joanne. So tell me all about Joanne. Well, thank you for the opportunity to share our story because working together on peace measures, you have been an inspiration to not only me, but the many people you encounter by your example and being, you know, marching with Dr. Monson's king. I mean, you know, you're part of the history that I've admired. And she does wonderful things for, she finds interesting facts. And we have been inspired by Lodec, right? But I grew up in a very small town on the Big Island. And I was involved with International Affairs as a high school student. I went to the Asian Fair Council, got to college, and then, you know, then after college, you know, and then I became a Buddhist. And their philosophy was peace, culture, and education, which really tied into what I believed in. Also that, you know, the United Nations is a highly respected organization by people of Hawaii and was embraced in that with the volunteer group. I've been volunteering with that since the 1990s, as you mentioned. And then we've encountered each other and became co-ordinators and partners in every peace adventure that we could find. And I have been... Yes. Thank you. Listen to this. Yes. Oh. Yeah, I can hear them in your microphone. Oh. Oh. That would be a little rough. Yes. Yeah, okay, got it. Now, you talked about interesting little facts. Mm-hmm. Yes. The one little fact... That's my inspiration. Yes. And that is... Harry Truman. Yes, absolutely. As we began celebrating Nagasaki, which is a forgotten celebration, because all the community remembers Hiroshima because that's first. And then, all of a sudden, nobody thinks about Nagasaki. So we were really thrilled that we were the ones to carry that torch. And then, in Congress 8, we did... Look what I found. And historically, you know, so August 6th, human bombs Hiroshima, and that's devastating to the world. Never again, never again. Then on August 8th, President signs that Charlie, she talks about United Nations and, wow, we're going to go to peace. And then, unbeknownst to the world, he bombs Nagasaki. And that shattered many people's hopes. And so we tried to embrace that the United Nations existed in 1945, but President Schumann still kept one more step to continue the war. It is astounding, yes. And when I tell that story, most people say, oh, that didn't happen. I don't believe that. Yes. I've had lots of people that go have to go Google August 8th to see what happened. Yeah. Now, of course, because some of it is Japan time and some of it is American time, sometimes it reads August 9th that the bombing and the signing are all on the same day. Ah, yes. So it had to decide. It sounds more traumatic than 8th and 9th. Yes. Yeah. I've often wondered, because he came late to the Manhattan Project, I often wonder if it had already been planned even before he came, you know, and it was already in place. The bomb was already in Tinian and the plane was already taken off when he signed. So I'm not making excuses for him. I just wonder if he even knew. I think as president, he had some knowledge, but not actually realizing what devastation was going to cause. But Dr. Glenn Pater did research later on, interviewed President Truman and asked about how considerable was it to have known you had killed hundreds of thousands of people and he was shocked by the response because he said that he slept well every night because it ended the travesty of the war. So, you know, he never regretted his move. Well, but the Japanese sued for peace, whatever, that's a strange phrase, but that's the legal phrase. Oh. They sued for peace after the firebombing of Tokyo in May. We're in August. So ending the war, they could have ended the war when the Japanese asked for it. Could we not have ended the war? Earlier? I'm sure. So that reason I'm saying that is that was the plan, we are going to bomb whether, no matter what, okay? Because all to move that bomb, from the mainland on the ship across the island to Tinian, and for anybody that doesn't know where Tinian is, it's one of those little islands next to Guam and Saipan. There's Guam, Saipan, Tinian, and Rhoda. So to move that takes a lot of people, a lot of bombs, a lot of ships and airplanes to do that. So it's not like it was a minute's notice. That's why I wonder if it had already been in place. And it was, I don't know. Yeah. Just looking at the logistics of this thing. Right. So when we go to break, we have a minute, we go to break, and then I want to talk about the sunflower. Oh, yes. Sounds great. This is Think Tech Hawaii, raising public awareness. You're watching Think Tech Hawaii, which streams live on thinktechhoaee.com, uploads to YouTube, and broadcasts on cable OC16 and O'Lello 54. Great content for Hawaii from Think Tech. We're back. And I'm talking with my dear friend, Joanne Tachibana. One of those interesting little moments in our history. We were part of the crowd, part of the, for the film First Battle, which was a long time ago, and I was the old Hawaiian tutu with the straw hat. And Joanne, of course, is the pretty Japanese woman. That was one of those moments. Yes. So now we, let me see. I've got all my sunflower here. Tell us about the history, the reason that we use, we commemorate the sunflower along with the Nagasaki. Thank you. Yes, we've been, it was, SGI Buddhist, the president, Daisaku Ikeda, you know, always talked about anti-nuclear things because his teacher talked about that. And David Krieger is the nuclear foundation president, and they collaborate together and put, choose hope. And when we got this, when I got the book, he talked about what important the sunflowers were. They were very symbolic because sunflowers, at the end of World War II, they scattered sunflower seeds into the earth that was all devastated by nuclear devastation, and because sunflowers detoxed the ground. So it's so amazing. And just saying them, it gives me chicken skin because, and the sunflowers gave hope. And that's why the book was called Choose Hope. So since then, we have used sunflowers as symbols of hope and anti-nuclear war. So that's been, that's why, and we gave today to the council, we gave them sunflower bookmarks to symbolize our work. Oh, this is an open hand. Okay. Can you see this? I don't know. This is me. Is that okay? I can't tell. But anyway, it's helpful. This is for you. It's helpful. Thank you. Oh, beautiful. Yes, thank you. Yes, Choose Hope. Thank you. Yes. Can I just read? Oh, I'm sorry. The sunflower. Quote, sunflowers instead of missiles in the soil would ensure peace for the future generations. U.S. Secretary of Defense, William Perry. Quote, sunflower symbolize a world free of nuclear weapons. After Ukraine gave up its last nuclear warhead, the defense ministers of the United States, Russia, and Ukraine met on a former Ukrainian missile base on June 4th, 1996. They celebrated by scattering sunflower seeds and planting sunflowers, which can remove toxins, including nuclear waste from soil and water. Taking from the book entitled Choose Hope by David Krieger and Dr. Daisaku Ikeda. Thank you. So what we need to do is to buy sunflowers and take them out to Barbara's point where it was so polluted. Is it? Okay. Yes. Where's the sunflowers? Ukraine is so polluted out there. When the military moved out, they left it, didn't take care of it, they just left it polluted. So... Well, that's maybe a project we can take on. That's a project we can take care of. We can plant sunflowers. So let's... We'll make it our project. That's a sunflower project. Maybe the 75th. Yes, yes. Today we talked with the Council General about planting now, it's a 72nd anniversary, so we're planting now for the 75th. So I think this project will have blooming sunflowers. That would be wonderful. Well, that's very hopeful. That's great. Yes. We had this Council General of Japan this morning at the ceremony of the City Council, which would be lovely. And the City Council honored us for all those years of work with the bell and the fact that this is the 72nd anniversary of the bombing. And it's one of those things that if tragic as it is, as horrible as it is, we must, we must keep remembering, we must talk about it. I'm sorry that we can't have music because of the copyright issues. But when I was in Nagasaki for August 9th, everywhere we went, streets were full and you could hear the music, the bells were nagasaki, everywhere. And it just filled the streets just so lovely. So every year when they celebrate, we always have the music, the bells, and nagasaki. But the Royal Hawaiian Band. The Royal Hawaiian Band. Absolutely. So, hello. So we'll plan for that. We'll plan for that. We will plan for that. Yes. Well, we're going to grow sunflowers in the neighborhoods and down there. Oh, that sounds wonderful. I think we're really delighted that we're making plans already. Is he going to leave us? Well, he said that, you know, they give two-year terms, so his two years is coming up, but sometimes they extend it to a third. And when we were talking with Bishop, we thought we could, if he's gone, then we should invite him to come. Come? This is his idea, yes. So he was delighted at that thought. So, yes. Yes. And he's been very involved. The Council General, when he arrived two years ago, it was a few days before our celebration of the Nagasaki Ballet to the Hall. And he came down, and he immediately jumped in. And, you know, he was so delighted about the fact that we remain in Nagasaki because not many places commemorate Nagasaki. It's one of the forgotten celebrations. When, you know, they make all kind of excuses about the cloudy and there was another site and all that kind of nonsense. When we were in Nagasaki, in fact, the Hibakusha invited me first class. They gave me a peace prize over there. Beautiful. While we were there at Ground Zero, and I'm turning around looking at Ground Zero, you know, thrilled at that three there. And in the background, I could see across the river this huge sign that said Misubishi. Wow. And then I thought, oh, this wasn't... Only about... This was not a second thought. This was planned, because Misubishi was building ships and planes and trucks and everything. That's a Japanese thought. And I thought, oh, okay. I get it. I understand. It is a wonderful city, beautiful city for anybody that doesn't know about tonight, go home and read Madam Butterfly or play the music or go to YouTube because that is where Madam Butterfly takes place. Beautiful woman, Japanese woman falls in love naturally with a sailor. What can I say? He was a lieutenant and his ship was the Abraham Lincoln, can you imagine? And so anyway, you've got to go take YouTube or Netflix or whatever and watch it and you get to see and get a sense of... And that was in 1900. And you're like, well, were they telling us something? That the United States arrives on the Abraham Lincoln and then of course... Now we're not going to spoil it by telling you the ending. Okay. We're not going to tell you the ending. But that is what Nagasaki was mainly known for was the opera, Madam Butterfly. And that's where it came onto the scene and maybe that... Maybe, just maybe, maybe that's so pretty. The music is so lovely that people don't want to think about the bombing. I don't know, I'm making it. Oh, forget it. You talk about bombing of Japan, I know some young people a question that said why didn't we ever bomb Germany when they were doing so many cruel things to the Jewish people? But it always raises a question about American choices of why we did Asia rather than in Europe. Well, the excuse is the bomb wasn't ready. That's the excuse. But now the whole thing is very racist. But our language is racist. When we talk about the war in Europe it's always Hitler, always Hitler, not the German people. It's Hitler. When we talk about the war in the Pacific it's Japanese, the Japanese. You know Yoshie. She talks about how horrible it was being a child and being Japanese, and those who were born here being the child in Hawaii and the horror she went through as a Japanese child. So it was all the language. The German prisoners of war could go into the officers' club on base where they were prisoners of war but the black pilots couldn't. So it's all, yes. Right across the floor it was all racist. And so that is the answer. The technical answer is the bomb wasn't ready. Hitler gave up too soon or whatever. You know, they make excuses for it. So we really don't want to keep repeating itself but that was quite a devastating the choices they made. Well Joanne, it's been a pleasure spending time with you as always. Let's hope we don't have to wait until next year to do this. Oh yes, thank you. Every year, every August 9th. Yes, absolutely, absolutely. Thank you again for spending the time with me. Well it's a pleasure and as always I walk the path of peace because you're one of my mentors and models. Thank you darling. I love you. Bye, see you next week.