NP Japan Visit Report (July 7-14, 2024)

Between July 7 and 14, 2024, four researchers (Blue Carlsson, Jessica Lambert, Ryo Morimoto, and Ella Weber) from Nuclear Princeton (NP) visited Japan for the new project, Chain Reactions: Princeton-Hiroshima Student Partnership and Future Memories of the Atomic Age. Funded by the 2024-25 Magic Grants for Innovation by Princeton’s Humanities Council, Chain Reactions aims to:

1. Trace the history of Princeton-Hiroshima connections using the atomic-bombed roof tiles donated by Hiroshima University in 2012
2. Rekindle the dormant connections through a year-long dialogue and exchange between a group of undergraduates at Princeton and Hiroshima University
3. Co-produce a multimedia exhibition of the atomic age at Princeton in Spring 2025.

During our week trip, we explored various possibilities for our proposed future exhibition by experiencing the cutting-edge digital technologies in Tokyo. We also established a promising partnership with a group of undergraduates at Hiroshima University (Miyu Azuma, Yuka Fukuhara, Iroha Kitazono, and Yuri Sawada), mentored by the two faculty members (Drs. Hiromi Kawaguchi and Ryohei Ikejiri) at the Educational Vision Research Institute (EVRI). The NP team met with the original doner of the atomic-bombed roof tiles, Rebun Kayo, who shared his activity and details about the Princeton-Hiroshima exchanges in 1951 and 2012. On behalf of the students in the Freshmen Seminar in Spring 2022 and ANT/ENV/AMS 245 in Spring 2023 who helped imagine this project, we handed a letter to Kayo expressing our intention to cultivate the Princeton-Hiroshima partnership he initiated. 

The NP team handing Rebun Kayo (right) a letter and Princeton swag. 

During our Japan visit, we first met with students and faculty from the University of Tokyo. We sat in on Professor Hidenori Watanave’s course, where we got to hear project proposal presentations from students using artificial intelligence and virtual reality to educate the public about the impacts of nuclear war on communities across the world. A major goal of these projects is to create an interactive/immersive experience that helps the viewer relate to the humanity of those affected by the tragedies, leading to a deeper understanding than what they would gain from only reading about what happened. For example, one student was using historical photos to create AI-generated landscapes of Bangladesh and Hiroshima after destruction due to war. The viewer could then explore these spaces in VR from the viewpoint of people, animals, and everyday objects that were there. 

At Professor Watanave’s class with his MA students. 

We also visited an exhibition of student projects. Students used animation, clothing, 3D printing, mapping, and AI to showcase science and technology studies. One of our favorite projects allowed participants to write a few paragraphs, which would then be transformed into different “moods” by AI and displayed on color-coordinated monitors. The input (displayed in white) was made sadder (blue), happier (yellow), more intense (red), and given the opposite meaning (black). We had a lot of fun playing around with this project and seeing what details the AI would invent to make the sentences fit the mood. For example, the “sad” monitor described the United States as “a place where it seems everything is going wrong these days,” whereas the “happy” one expressed pride in the country’s “vibrant culture and diversity.” It was interesting what details the AI would generate in its interpretation of a neutral sentence. We are considering ways we could incorporate a similar exhibit into our project. It may be interesting to design an algorithm that interprets certain events related to nuclear history from different perspectives. For example, the Manhattan Project from the perspective of people from Hiroshima, the United States Government, Navajo uranium miners, and others.

The students’s exhibition at the University of Tokyo.  

An AI generating phrases in different “moods” for the original prompt in the white background “Hi my name is Blue. I am from United States.” 

An AI generating phrases in different “moods” for the original prompt in the white background “Nuclear Princeton is here in Tokyo to present on our research. We are studying the impacts of nuclear development on Indigenous people and lands.”  

After the exhibition, we learned about VisionPort, an interactive mapping and virtual reality technology. Using assemblages of maps, videos, and stories, VisionPort brings participants into the world of communities ravaged by wars and natural disasters.

Professor Watanave showing his Hirsohima Archive using the VisionPort platform. 

Professor Watanave showed us one of his digital earth projects, We Shall Never Forget, on the VisionPort, illustrating the paths of Iwate residents before they were killed in the 2011 Tsunami, adding a more human element to the tragedy. Many of the paths converged as people sought shelter at evacuation sites like a gymnasium in Rikuzentakata. Some stayed where they were, while others fled in the opposite direction. Only seeing the names and dots representing people left the rest to our imagination. Where was a certain person going? Were they trying to reach family or friends? What were they doing before the tsunami hit? The dots gradually speed up, then suddenly stop the moment the tsunami hits. Even without hearing individual stories, seeing the paths people took helped humanize the tragedy. 

The digital representations of people’s evacuation paths in Rikuzentakata, March 11th, 2011. Male residents (blue) and female residents (red) heading toward the community gymnasium, which was inundated by the tsunami.  

In Tokyo, we also visited two interactive museums - teamLab’s “Borderless” and Immersive Museum’s “Impressionism & Japonism” - to draw inspiration for innovative new ways to present our own exhibition. The latter used animations and AI to draw connections between Western and Japanese art, particularly how Western artists like Monet and Van Gogh showed inspiration from Japanese culture in their paintings. We used the AI paint exhibit, in which an animated AI, Katsushika Hokusai, creates a woodblock print of you. Seeing origami paper with patterns from famous European and Japanese paintings at the museum store inspired us to explore how the paper we use to fold origami cranes in our exhibit can hold special meaning. For example, folding a crane using Starry Night creates a link between Saint-Rémy-de-Provence in France and Hiroshima, which uses the crane as a symbol of peace. 

Images from teamLab’s “Borderless” in Minato, Tokyo 

At teamLab’s Borderless, it was interesting to see the art change as we interacted with it. Rain projected on the walls appeared to bounce off our heads and flow around our feet. Cartoon animals turned to look at us when touched, and lights changed as we selected new moods on a tablet. This was similar to a project at the student exhibition at Tokyo University, where you stood in front of a camera, and your silhouette was integrated into the projected background. It would be interesting if guests could interact with our exhibition like this - if they decorated cranes that then flew around like the fish on the walls at “Borderless” or if the exhibit changed over time to create different experiences. 

Our experience in Tokyo inspired us to imagine offering a more immersive experience to the visitors so that they can learn more about the present meaning of Princeton’s past and present engagements with nuclear science and technology. We wondered if the visitors could experience the 3D images of the roof tiles in virtual space or if origami cranes and/or bombs the visitors make could be suspended around campus virtually by using VR or AR technology. There seems to be so much we could do by imagining potential inter-actions between physical materials and digital technologies.  

We traveled west to Hiroshima, where we learned about the U.S. dropping of the nuclear bomb and its impact on people and their lives at the Hiroshima Peace Museum. The museum combined rubble, clothing, everyday items, and artwork to illustrate the terror of the bombing, the devastating loss of life, survivors’ long-term illnesses, and how nuclear weapons development and policy continue to pose a threat to this day. 

The display of the material remains from the atomic bomb at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. 

One of the most impactful stories was that of Sadako Sasaki, a young hibakusha who developed leukemia several years after the bombing as a result of radiation exposure. She folded over 1,000 cranes of varying sizes and materials while in the hospital before her death. The museum has a station for visitors to make origami cranes like Sadako’s, and the cranes have become a well-known symbol of peace. For us, this symbol of crane sharply contrasted with our NP project’s past project on Missiles on Our Rez. Led by Ella Weber, we explored the reality that the atomic bombs still exist despite the wishes of hibakusha like Sadako and are actively being produced, while impacting Native Land and People. As we tried folding our own origami cranes, we wondered how we could balance the hope of nuclear abolition in Hiroshima and the fact of nuclear proliferation elsewhere. 

Sadako’s origami cranes exhibited at the Museum.  

Jessica folding a crane with the help of an elderly volunteer.

Some of the most impactful images included in the exhibit were drawings made by hibakusha. The art contains graphic and impressionistic depictions of the injuries, destruction, and chaos they witnessed during and after the bombing. Some also have comments written on them by the artist that elaborate on the events. These drawings are the best available illustrations of the few moments directly following the blast, as there were no photographs taken until later that day. This lack of photo-realistic depictions forces the viewer to imagine the sights through the survivors’ eyes and memories, leaving a greater impact than photos alone.

After the museum, we visited the a-bomb dome and learned about its history. While there, two grade school students approached us for a school project. They asked us our names, where we were from, and why we were visiting Hiroshima. We explained our project and they gifted us a drawing in thanks. Seeing how local students actively participated in the preservation of the memory of the atomic bombing was inspiring. It also taught us the value of peace education and intergenerational efforts to pass down the memory to the future. 

Group photo after the interview by Toyama Junior High School students by the Atomic Bomb Dome. 

Then, we had two days of meetings at Hiroshima University. On the first day, we met with Rebun Kayo - a staff member who researches the impacts of the nuclear bomb on Hiroshima and had been the one to coordinate and send the a-bombed roof tiles to Princeton in 2012. The day before, Kayo had gone to the river in downtown Hiroshima during low tide to collect ceramic artifacts from the atomic bombing. He explained to us that he knew they were from the 1945 bombing based on the layer of soil they were found in, their antique designs, and evidence of the blast-like bubbling or discoloration. Then, he demonstrated how he cleans and preserves these artifacts. He then taught us how to clean the artifacts using a bucket of water and a brush, giving us a greater insight into the thought and care that went into the roof tiles that were sent to Princeton. We were impressed with how he also honored the souls contained in these objects by singing old songs and playing a bamboo flute for them. His desire to treat these artifacts as the relics of the lost people resonates with the practice of “ceremony” among many Native American communities and the respect we show to all beings, the living and the dead. 

Materials excavated by Rebun Kayo.     

Ella Weber cleaning one of the artifacts. 

During the visit, we also got to explore Hiroshima University’s library, where the two books donated by Princeton University to the Hiroshima University’s Peace Library in the 50s are stored under the collection named the Peace Books/Heiwa Bunko (2,600 books total). We saw and got to flip through these books - Kierkegaard’s Concluding Unscientific Postscript, translated by David F. Swenson, and Charles Evans Hughes’ Our Relations to the Nations of the Western Hemisphere. We wondered what led Princeton to choose these two books and noted the stamps, bookmarks, and checkout cards in the books, tracing their history and use since their donation. They appeared to have been relatively untouched, and the librarian explained that some books in the collection - including these - are restricted and require specific permission to check out.         ,

One of the books donated by Princeton.          

The NP researchers investigating the books. 

The logo of Hiroshima University’s Peace Library

After a short tour of the University campus, we visited an exhibition of Kayo’s research and artifacts, where a 2012 letter from Princeton University Librarian Karin Trainer is on display. Kayo shared that he selected the letter for the exhibition because he was particularly touched by the librarian’s kind words. We now would like to reach out to Karin Trainer, who retired from Princeton in 2016, to report our visit and find out more about the background of her writing the letter.  

Rebun Kayo (on the left) describing the exhibition of his research. 

On our second day at Hiroshima University, we met with students in the education department　interested in being involved in our project moving forward. We delivered a presentation about Nuclear Princeton’s work and some of the projects we have conducted so far, and we outlined the history of the roof tiles being donated to Princeton and our intentions for creating an exhibition with these tiles and other materials. As we discussed the significance of peace cranes, we brainstormed ways origami arts could be incorporated into our collaborative exhibition, including potentially making peace cranes out of US textbooks and newspapers that celebrate and justify the bombing of Hiroshima and making atomic bombs out of Japanese textbooks and newspapers that discuss the horrific impacts of the atomic bomb. 

We also discussed incorporating not only the juxtaposition between Princeton and the United States’s contributions to the Manhattan Project and the impacts of the Hiroshima bombing, but also showing the impacts of uranium mining on the Navajo Nation, bomb testing on Indigenous land, and current stationing of nuclear weapons on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. Afterward, we brainstormed more ideas for the exhibition, began a shared document for us to note our thoughts, and created a group chat so we could keep in touch. 

During our visit, we learned about the significance of intergenerational collaboration in peace education. Professor Kazuhiro Kusahara from the EVRI presented a joint project involving the EVRI, the Hiroshima Global Academy, and La Fetra Elementary School in California called “Making a Better Hiroshima Textbook.” This project is commendable as it aims to co-create a textbook. Over a year (6 rounds), the Japanese and U.S. participants exchanged ideas to address the question, “What message about the Atomic Bomb should we convey to future generations?” The resulting textbook incorporates perspectives from both countries and multiple generations. Notably, the exchange prompted Japanese and American students to think critically about the history textbooks they use. Hearing this idea, one of our collaborators, Yuka Fukuhara from Hiroshima University, suggested we think about exchanging drawings on themes and topics surrounding the Princeton-Hiroshima partnership as we learn about each other’s place, history, and culture.  

Prof. Kusama also described that a way peace education is incorporated into the classroom in Hiroshima was through an art class. Students were paired with survivors of the bombing and worked in partnership with them over the course of an academic year to co-create an art piece that accurately depicts the survivor’s experience of the Hiroshima bombing. Students were not given the option to not finish the project, even if it was emotionally overwhelming. While we learned that many students struggled with the assignment, they reported it to be a very valuable experience. There is a firm belief that the true horrors of the bombing dropping must be faced to properly ensure that there are “No More Hiroshimas.” This project is an important way for younger generations to connect with elders and understand what survivors of the bombing went through. It is also a way to use the power of art to document the lived realities of Hiroshima, so the horrific impact of nuclear war is not forgotten. This lesson reminded us of our earlier animation project, “Titration,” in which the NP researchers voiced over the oral historical accounts of Navajo uranium miners and their families. By narrating the voices of those in the past, we felt as if their stories mattered to us in the present. We hope to incorporate this insight into our exhibition. 

The NP team presenting their project to the Hiroshima undergraduate student partner at the EVRI. 

Group photo at the Hiroshima University Entrance. From the left, Iroha Kitazono, Miyu Azuma, Ella Weber, Jessica Lambert, Blue Carlsson, and Yuka Fukuhara. 

Group photo by the HU monument inside the campus. From the left, Yuri Sawada, Blue Carlsson, Jessica Lambert, and Ella Weber. 

We had an incredible time in Japan. We thank everyone who made this trip possible. By visiting Japan, we learned so much about both the impacts and lingering aftermaths of the U.S. bombing on the people of Hiroshima. At the same time, this visit helped us identify tasks for us as well as requests to our Hiroshima Univ partner to coproduce the exhibition at Princeton in 2025. We will mention a few here.

Tasks for the NP team:

1. Contact the former Princeton Librarian, Karin Trainer.  
2. Contact the Princeton University Press and find out more about the books donated to Hiroshima in 1951.
3. Explore and identify a few exemplary textbooks and narratives in the U.S. used to teach about the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
4. Also, explore newspapers that celebrate the atomic bomb.
5. Research on ceremonial practices among Native and Indigenous people (for this, we may focus on practices among the Navajo and MHA people). 
6. Discuss digital projects and explore the technological skills and tools necessary
7. Coordinate with the library to find out what it would take to exhibit the atomic-bombed roof tiles.
8. Brainstorm activities we can engage with our Hiroshima partner.  bombings

Requests for our Hiroshima Partner:

1. Explore various textbooks and local newspapers that convey the horrors of the atomic bomb.
2. Brainstorm things Hiroshima people would like to know about Princeton and its involvement with the Manhattan Project and also what Hiroshima people want the Princeton people to know about Hiroshima. 
3. Interview a few hibakusha and peace educators and activists to find out the message they have for future generations.
4. Participate in Kayo’s excavation to experience and document its entire process, from the excavation to the related rites to care for the unearthed materials.
5. Work with Misaki Katayama at UTokyo to think about incorporating digital technologies. 
6. Also, if possible, identify popular folk songs that children in the 40s might have sung or listened to.