Home Resources News archive JAGDA TO PRESENT HIROSHIMA APPEALS POSTERS TO AMERICAN PRESIDENT OBAMA

JAGDA TO PRESENT HIROSHIMA APPEALS POSTERS TO AMERICAN PRESIDENT OBAMA

10.08.2009 News

Tokyo (Japan) - Since 1983, , in collaboration with the Hiroshima International Cultural Foundation, has conducted a volunteer project "Hiroshima Appeals" poster campaign to disseminate "Hiroshima's Spirit" with the goal of promoting peace at home and abroad.

To appeal for the end of nuclear weapons and realisation of global peace, JAGDA presents a set of 12 posters produced between 1983 and 2009 to the American President Barack Obama. The posters are on the way to the White House to arrive there by 15 August, which is the End of the War Memorial Day in Japan.

In his letter to President Obama accompanying the posters, JAGDA President Mitsuo Katsui describes the inspiration JAGDA took from Obama's April 2009 address in Prague. "We were deeply moved by your resolve, your taking a bold initiative to pursue the creation of a nuclear-free world.... your historic announcement infused us with fresh incentive and great encouragement in our own efforts to ensure the continuation of human life on Earth."
Download the letter (PDF - 60KB)

The Hiroshima Appeals posters sent to the White House include:

1983 "Burning Butterflies" by Yusaku Kamekura
1984 "A Diversity of Birds" by Kiyoshi Awazu
1985 "The Earth" Shigeo Fukuda
1986 "Child with Dove" by Yoshio Hayakawa
1987 "Serene Flight Shattering in A Single Flash" by Kazumasa Nagai
1988 "A Single White Dove" by Ikko Tanaka
1989 "The Vault of Hiroshima" by Mitsuo Katsui
2005 "Give Peace A Chance" by Masayoshi Nakajo
2006 "Golden Butterfly" by Koichi Sato
2007 "NO MORE HIROSHIMA!" by Shin Matsunaga
2008 "Citizen's Peace Stamp Poster" by Masuteru Aoba
2009 "A Time Never To Be Forgotten, 815" by Katsumi Asaba

Comment from 2009 designer

The pocket watch was ticking away faithfully, keeping good time even on that day. It was a bright and sunny morning. The hands of the clock read after 8 oÂ’clock. At 8:15 on the morning of August 6, 1945, the sky over Hiroshima burst into bright red light, the flash sending flying everything in its path. Sixty-five long years have elapsed since that day. Nuclear arms have continued to proliferate and the world has more nuclear powers than ever. In July this year, designer Issey Miyake contributed a courageous piece to the editorial pages of the New York Times. In that article, Miyake appealed to President Obama to attend the Peace Memorial Ceremony on August 6 and expressed a fervent wish that the American president would accept his invitation. Issey Miyake was seven years old when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and as a survivor of that bombing his voice carries an unprecedented power. With the US and Russia now calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons, 2009 promises to be a momentous year in the movement for universal peace.

About the Hiroshima Appeals poster campaign

In 1983, the Japan Graphic Designers Association Inc. (JAGDA) and the Hiroshima International Cultural Foundation announced their collaboration on a project focusing on the theme "Hiroshima's Spirit" and launched a poster campaign with the goal of promoting peace at home and abroad. The first poster, entitled "Burning Butterflies", was created by Yusaku Kamekura, the president of JAGDA at the time. Designers affiliated with JAGDA produce one poster each year.

The posters are sold to the general public and exhibited in a nationwide tour called the "Peace Poster Exhibition". Posters in the series have engaged citizens around the world, displayed in the Atomic Bomb Exhibition preceding to the historic 1985 Geneva Summit, and the exhibition entitled "Hiroshima: A Message for Peace among People" held in Barcelona and Valencia in Spain, and Aosta in Italy in 1997. The 2008 poster was sent to several member cities whose mayors are members of the international group Mayors for Peace. The "Hiroshima Appeals" project, conducted annually from 1983 till 1991, was reinstated in 2005 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II.

Find out more about the past designs:

For more information, please contact:

Chika Kudo
JAGDA Secretariat
Japan Graphic Designers Association Inc.
Midtown Tower 5F, 9-7-1 Akasaka
Minato-ku, Tokyo
107-6205 Japan
T: +81 3 5770 7509
F: +81 3 3479 7509
E: kudo@jagda.org
W: www.jagda.org

About JAGDA

A Professional Member of Icograda, the Japan Graphic Designers Association Inc. (JAGDA) is an organisation of professional graphic designers active throughout Japan and abroad. Since its establishment in 1978, JAGDA has continuously aimed to promote the enhancement of graphic design and to contribute to the betterment of cultural life through graphic design.