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From Bombs to Fireworks

Kawaguchi Yoko (Toyama National College of Technology)

Good afternoon, everyone. Today, I'd like to talk about how we can use bombs for peace.

"I want to change all bombs into fireworks. I do hope for peace, so I want to use gun powder not for destruction but for joy." These are words by a fireworks expert, Seiji Kase. As an engineering student, his words made a strong impact on me.

Mr. Kase used to design and set off a lot of fireworks for the summer festival in my hometown, Nagaoka City in Niigata Prefecture. Nagaoka is famous for its fireworks festival called "Nagaoka Hanabi". Nagaoka Hanabi is one of the biggest fireworks shows in Japan. However, it is not just the scale of the show that attracts a lot of people every year. What Nagaoka Hanabi represents is a prayer for peace, and that point impresses many people.

In 1941, Isoroku Yamamoto, an admiral from Nagaoka, attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, and thus the Pacific War began. After that, Nagaoka was attacked by the American Air Force and more than 1,400 people were killed. From that event, Mr. Kase started to wish even more for world peace and expressed these wishes with fireworks.

I heard a lot of stories about these special fireworks from Mr. Kase himself when I was an elementary school student. However, since I was very young, it was a little difficult to understand all his feelings towards his fireworks. But when I was in junior high school, I was given an opportunity to understand his wishes. I went to Pearl Harbor in Honolulu as a member of an international exchange program that Nagaoka had organized. There I had a chance to talk with the mayor of Honolulu. He said to me, "I saw Nagaoka Hanabi and I found it wonderful!" I was moved, because I thought these fireworks could bond Honolulu and Nagaoka even though these two cities were enemies a long time ago. So, it was a great pleasure for me that fireworks from Nagaoka with the hope of peace were launched into the night sky of Honolulu for the first time in March, 2012. So far, Nagaoka's fireworks have been displayed in other places in the world too, such as Washington D.C., Helsinki, New York and Brazil. Now I can understand what Nagaoka Hanabi means for the world as well as Nagaoka. It is a symbol for world peace. Fireworks can be bombs if we use explosives the wrong way, but bombs can be fireworks if we wish for peace.

Great inventions by human beings, such as explosives, can be used either to make our lives more convenient, or to threaten them. You can say the same thing about nuclear energy. If we use the energy to make atomic bombs, we can endanger a huge number of people's lives. On the other hand, nuclear energy can produce an enormous amount of electrical power, and it can be used for the further development of our lives. However, if we use nuclear energy to improve our lives, we should always take its dangers into consideration.

I think everyone remembers what happened in March, 2011. Radioactive substances were scattered from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant that was damaged by the earthquake and the subsequent tsunami. We have been afraid of the negative impacts of this radiation on our health, such as the increased risk of cancer. Also, we have been worried about the environment, because radioactive materials were released into the sea and soil. Since the radiation could affect the area and its population for generations to come, many people needed to leave their homes, their friends, their towns. In fact, more than ten thousand people have even evacuated to Nagaoka. Although nobody can stop large-scale earthquakes from occurring, we should be able to predict and prevent the nuclear disasters that natural disasters may cause. So, I believe the engineers of any nuclear power plant should warn us more strongly of the potential risks of a nuclear power accident on everyone's safety. I think the disaster at the plant caused by the big earthquake and tsunami is one incident that should make us think again the words of Mr. Kase.

Therefore, I really want to repeat his words: "I want to change all bombs into fireworks. I do hope for peace, so I want to use gun powder not for destruction but for joy." I believe what he was saying is not just about fireworks. I truly think his words are a message to engineers everywhere. Now, I am studying to become an engineer in the future. What Mr. Kase said has made me realize that technology must never be used to cause wars, destroy our environment, or take away our happiness and peace of mind. As a student of a National College of Technology, I want to keep Mr. Kase's words in my mind and become an engineer who can develop and use technology for the world's peace.