Japanese artist to publish picture book on nuclear ban protocol

FUKUOKA, June 13 Kyodo -
Japanese artist Seitaro Kuroda and a Hiroshima citizens group are aiming to
publish a picture book in late July that explains in an easy-to-understand
manner a protocol proposed by an international group of mayors calling for
nuclear elimination.
Kuroda, 70, said he proposed publishing such a book that can be read easily by
children after perusing the protocol and thinking that it contained good
elements but was ''rigid with too many kanji characters.''
The book will feature illustrations by Kuroda, including that of the mushroom
cloud and flowers, and explanatory text by Michi Matsugami, a copywriter who
lives in Hiroshima, as well as their English translations.
It will include anti-nuclear peace messages from students in Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, the two Japanese cities on which the U.S. military dropped atomic
bombs during World War II.
The citizens group will self-publish the 64-page book, printing about 5,000
copies to be sold for 500 yen each.
''It's sad that the general feeling is that once the anniversaries of the
atomic bombings are over, you don't have to console the souls (of the victims)
until the next year,'' said Kuroda, who lives in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka
Prefecture.
''I want the picture book to work as a catalyst for people to hold discussion
by passing it from hand to hand and asking, 'What do you think about this
book?''' he added.
Mayors for Peace, chaired by Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba and with more than
2,000 members worldwide, proposed the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol in April last
year.
The protocol seeks an immediate stop to all efforts to obtain or use nuclear
weapons, including by nuclear states, with a view to eliminating nuclear arms
by 2020.
==Kyodo