Mayor of Nagasaki, Japan, talks of peace in St. Paul 80 years after U.S. bombing

NINA MOINI: On the south end of Como Lake in St. Paul, there's a street called Nagasaki Road. And in Nagasaki, Japan, there's a street named after St. Paul.

They are sister cities, an official relationship that began in December 1955. And that was only 10 years after the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki. That was 80 years ago this month.

Nagasaki's current mayor, Shiro Suzuki, recently visited Minnesota. His grandfather was mayor of Nagasaki when the sister city relationship was formed. But when I met Mayor Suzuki at the Minnesota History Center, I learned this was his first trip to St. Paul.

SHIRO SUZUKI: Hi.

NINA MOINI: Oh, hello.

SHIRO SUZUKI: It's very nice to meet you.

NINA MOINI: Nice to meet you. I'm Nina. Great to meet you.

SHIRO SUZUKI: I'm Shiro Suzuki.

NINA MOINI: We were doing some research, Mr. Mayor, about you. And I thought it was so neat that you have a family history of mayors in Nagasaki. Tell me a little bit about that. Was it just your grandfather or your father as well?

SHIRO SUZUKI: Yes, as you know, this year marks the 70th anniversary of the sister city relationship between St. Paul and Nagasaki. And 17 years ago, the sister city agreement between Nagasaki and St. Paul was concluded between two mayors-- mayors of St. Paul, Mr. Dillon, and mayor of Nagasaki, Mr. Togawa. That is my grandfather.

And that was 1955. And the next year, 1956, my grandfather, Mayor Tagawa, visited St. Paul. And he was welcomed by citizens of St. Paul as well as mayor Dillon.

NINA MOINI: That's so special that you are now here having a similar experience to your grandfather. For those who may not be familiar, would you describe what it means to be a sister city together? What is the relationship? What do they share-- knowledge, other things, trees, different things that have been gifted over the years, the cherry blossoms? Tell me a little bit about that relationship and what it means.

SHIRO SUZUKI: Under the sister city agreement, we exchanged people and culture. For example, there was a exchange students between Nagasaki and St. Paul. Until now, many students are exchanged between Nagasaki and St. Paul.

And also, there are a lot of exchange program, including cultural exchange program. For example, this year, St. Paul Civic Symphony visited Nagasaki and held a collaborative concert with Nagasaki Civic Orchestra.

NINA MOINI: Beautiful.

SHIRO SUZUKI: Yeah.

NINA MOINI: Yeah.

SHIRO SUZUKI: Yeah. That collaborative harmony was very beautiful.

NINA MOINI: Yeah, so sharing culture and ideas, are there other things that you look for, perhaps like construction or roads or the ways that parks operate? Or what are the different things that from a city standpoint, is there anything that you share ideas about?

SHIRO SUZUKI: Yeah, for example, we have a St. Paul Street in Nagasaki, just in front of the Atomic Bomb Museum so that the symbol of friendship as well as a symbol of peace. And also, from the city of St. Paul, a monument was donated to Nagasaki city. And that is now placed in the Peace Park. Yeah.

NINA MOINI: You mentioned that the monument is outside of the museum. And it's interesting to me to think about the balance of friendship and peace and then some of the difficulties, obviously, of history. I imagine that was part of your life as you were growing up, given your grandfather's role and just being a citizen of Japan and being an engaged citizen. How do you reflect on that all of this time later, the balance of friendship and also facing difficult history?

SHIRO SUZUKI: Yeah, actually, that kind of exchange of people and culture promotes the friendship and promotes trust between the two cities. And it's very important to share the wish for peace. Looking back to the reality of the atomic bombing, we need to see the future and create a brighter future on the basis of our mutual understanding of what happened in the past.

It is important to let many people know the reality of the atomic bombing, what happened under the mushroom cloud 80 years ago. And it's important to how inhumane and how miserable the result of the atomic bombing was, the use of nuclear weapons. Then we have to think about how we can realize the world without nuclear weapons.

NINA MOINI: Is that something that you continue to be passionate about? How do you go about sharing that viewpoint with the rest of the world?

SHIRO SUZUKI: So now, firstly, we are disseminating a message to the world to know the reality of the atomic bombing as well as to share our wish for peace.

And for example, with the mayors of atomic bomb cities, Nagasaki and Hiroshima, participate in the international meetings of, for example, NPT, Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty, or the TPNW, Treaty on Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Then we deliver a speech at the international meeting to call for the abolition of nuclear weapons.

NINA MOINI: Is this something that you are concerned about more so at this point in history? How concerned are you about the nuclear weapons at this point in our world history?

SHIRO SUZUKI: Yeah, the current international situation is a very bad situation for the promotion of the abolition of nuclear weapons. So now, we think that we need to strengthen our activities to promote the abolition of nuclear weapons.

NINA MOINI: How important is it for people of different countries and cultures, do you think, to share their culture and the uplifting and the good parts of their culture and things like their food and things like their music and their art? How important is that? Because that is a big part, as I'm hearing of the sister city connection.

SHIRO SUZUKI: Yeah, sure, yeah, yeah, it is important to share the value or share common understanding. And also, we are promoting culture of peace. I mean, as a culture is based on peace.

When we enjoy cultures, arts, or sports, we can feel peace. So sister city relationship is also based on that kind of cultural exchange, based on peace.

NINA MOINI: Mayor Suzuki, thank you so much for making time for us during your visit. We really appreciate it. Thank you.

SHIRO SUZUKI: Yeah, thank you very much.

NINA MOINI: That was Nagasaki Mayor Shiro Suzuki during a recent visit to Nagasaki's sister city of St. Paul.