Japanese

On August 5, 2025, the “Peace Charity Concert” commemorating the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing was held at Satake Memorial Hall on the Higashihiroshima Campus. The concert was attended by approximately 500 people, including the general public, students, faculty, and staff of the university, as well as members of the President's Conference on Peace to be held on August 6. Tthe audience shared the importance of peace through music with the themes of “prayer,” “hope,” and “free love,” and enjoyed a heartwarming moment.

On behalf of the organizers, President Mitsuo Ochi expressed his gratitude to all those who supported the event and introduced the story of how, on the day after the atomic bombing, Southeast Asia Special Exchange Students (南方特別留学生, nanpō tokubetsu ryūgakusei) from the Hiroshima University's predecessor picked up instruments that had survived the firestorm and played together to encourage one another. The year after the end of the war, students from Hiroshima held music concerts in various places in the city. "Music has the power to shake our souls, comfort us, and give us positive strength, and I hope that today's concert, held over 80 years, will be a time for us to feel the importance and preciousness of peace," he said in his opening remarks.

In the first part, choral and chamber music performances by faculty, students, and graduates of Hiroshima University's Music Education Program delivered wishes for peace through the power of music. In the second part, Michie Nakamaru, world-renowned opera singer and Hiroshima University visiting professor, sang on stage in a voice filled with love and prayer to accompaniment by Tomohiro Adachi, internationally acclaimed pianist.

The proceeds from the concert will be used to invite the world's next generation of leaders to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony to be hosted by Hiroshima City on August 6. These young people from overseas will experience the reality of the atomic bombing in Hiroshima, and by returning to their home countries to tell their stories, the seeds of Hiroshima University's philosophy, “The Spirit of Peace,” will be sown and grow around the world.