Choose Hope Symposium
August 23-24th, 2025
Pheonix Hall, International Conference Center, Hiroshima
The Choose Hope Symposium took place on August 23rd-24th, 2025, in Hiroshima. Hosted by the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation (NAPF) and Soka Gakkai International (SGI), the landmark event honored the legacies of David Krieger, NAPF’s Founder and President Emeritus, and Daisaku Ikeda, the SGI Founder and President—both of whom passed away in late 2023.
Marking the 80th year of the atomic bombings, the symposium opened on August 23rd with a visit to the Hiroshima Memorial Peace Park and Museum. Participants gathered for closed workshop discussions on the future of nuclear abolition and nuclear justice.
On August 24th, the symposium featured a series of thought-provoking panels covering a range of pressing topics. Annie Jacobsen, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of Nuclear War: A Scenario, gave the keynote address. Following her lecture, a panel of experts convened to explore critical challenges in nuclear disarmament and global security.
The Choose Hope Symposium brought together a wide range of voices to reflect, exchange ideas, and reaffirm a shared commitment to a world without nuclear weapons. Please see below for further details on the event.
Participants gathered in Hiroshima to share stories, strategies, and solidarity for a world free of nuclear weapons
Symposium Program
Floral tribute at the Cenotaph, Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.
Visit to Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and Museum
Saturday August 23rd, 2025
The symposium opened with a visit to the Hiroshima Memorial Peace Park and Museum, where symposium participants presented a floral tribute at the Hiroshima Victims Memorial Cenotaph. Dr. Ivana Hughes, Annie Jacobsen, and Mr. Hirotsugu Terasaki, Vice President of Soka Gakkai International, led the delegation in laying the wreath at the memorial. Following an extensive tour of the Peace Memorial Park, with its many monuments and the iconic Atomic Dome,
the participants had the opportunity to spend time at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, where they learned from exhibits featuring the human toll of the bombs: the victims who perished and the survivors who suffered, often for the remainder of their lives.
The Genbaku Dome, remains of a building near the hypocenter of the atomic bombing
The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation team after a floral tribute at the Cenotaph
An exhibit about Sadako Sasaki in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum
Annie Jacobsen, Nemanja Hughes, and Ivana Hughes in front of the Genbaku Dome
Ivana Hughes, Kate Jang, Erica Kokor, and Valerya Zherebtsova in front of the Children's Peace Memorial to commemorate Sadako Sasaki and the thousands of other children who became victims of the atomic bombings
Workshops Among Stakeholders
International Conference Center Hiroshima
Saturday, August 23rd
In the afternoon, about 40 students, civil society members, academics, activists, and experts gathered for closed workshop discussions on the future of nuclear abolition, nuclear justice, and the intersections between climate change and nuclear weapons. The fruitful conversations laid the basis for achieving the symposium’s goals, including through the development of an action plan.
Workshop Program
Welcome Remarks by Daisaku Shiode
Opening Remarks by Ivana Nikolić Hughes
Discussion #1 – From Deterrence to Disarmament
Discussion #2 – Nuclear Legacy: A Call for Justice
Discussion #3 – The Role of Art in Bringing About Change
Discussion #4 – The Intersection Between Climate and Nuclear Activism and the Role of Youth
Public Symposium
Sunday, August 24, 2025 | 1:00 PM – 5:30 PM
Phoenix Hall, B2 Floor, International Conference Center Hiroshima
On August 24th, the public symposium, with over 400 people in attendance, was held in the Hiroshima International Conference Center. The program featured welcome remarks from Tomohiko Aishima, SGI’s Executive Director of Peace and Global Issues, and Dr. Ivana Hughes, as well as moving remarks from Mariko Higashino, a second generation Hibakusha. Kimiko Sakai, a professional singer and pianist, did a Hibaku Piano performance on a piano that had survived the bombing some 80 years earlier. Author Annie Jacobsen, who delivered the Kelly Lecture in March in Santa Barbara, delivered keynote remarks which were followed by expert panels exploring critical challenges in nuclear disarmament and the path toward nuclear justice.
See HERE for Dr. Hughes’s welcome remarks.
Tomohiko Aishima, Ivana Hughes, Annie Jacobsen, and Chie Sunada, outside of the International Conference Center in Hiroshima.
Program
Short video about Krieger and Ikeda
Welcome remarks by Tomohiko Aishima
Opening remarks by Ivana Nikolić Hughes
Hibakusha Testimony by Mariko Higashino
Keynote speech by Annie Jacobsen
Hibaku Piano Performance by Kimiko Sakai
Panel 1 “Confronting the Nuclear Threat: TPNW, Nuclear Justice and a Path to the Nuclear Abolition” by Chie Sunada (moderator), Ivana Nikolić Hughes, Christian Ciobanu, Masako Toki, Annie Jacobsen
Break
Panel 2 “Hope in Action: Carrying the Legacy, Building the Future” by Luli van der Does (moderator), Sayaka Morii, Hideo Asano, Kenneth Chiu, Valeriya Zherebtsova
Closing Remarks & Announcement
Chie Sunada, Director of Disarmament and Human Rights, Sokka Gakkai International
Ivana Hughes, President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
Annie Jacobsen, journalist and author of Nuclear War: a Scenario
A Hibaku Piano concert for peace
Panelists Christian Ciobanu and Masako Toki during symposium panel
Panel on Hope in Action: Carrying the Legacy, Building the Future
