As chairman of the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation, (Steve Leeper) is responsible for management of the city’s peace museum, which recreates the experience of the city’s atomic bomb survivors with graphic displays and images of the horrific reality of nuclear warfare. (Joshua J. McElwee, National Catholic Reporter)

He’s also the man behind much of Hiroshima’s unique push to propel world peace efforts. Organizing seminars with survivors, he has helped spread their message of forgiveness and global cooperation around the world.

The first American to hold his position, Leeper is also intimately involved in Mayors for Peace, which has grown to include nearly 5,000 cities in 151 countries since he served as its North American director in 2002.

NCR spoke to Leeper in his Hiroshima office Aug. 7, just a day after the city’s annual commemoration of its 1945 destruction by a U.S. atomic bomb.

(Read about the ‘peace culture’ in excerpts from that conversation, found via the link below.)

FULL INTERVIEW

Working toward a new ‘peace culture’ (National Catholic Reporter)

PHOTO CREDIT

pcf.city.hiroshima.jp