"Stonewalk Japan" Honors Unknown Civilians Killed in War
Nagasaki to Hiroshima Peace Walk Includes Japanese "Hibakusha" Who Survived

NAGASAKI, JAPAN - July 1 - Japanese atomic bomb survivors will join family members of those killed on September 11th in a 34-day peace walk from Nagasaki to Hiroshima honoring "the unknown civilians killed in war." Members of the Japanese public will join in pulling a two-ton granite memorial stone, mounted on a specially-designed wagon, entirely by hand for the duration of the 340-mile walk, between July 2 and August 4, 2005.

"Stonewalk Japan" not only marks the 60th anniversary of the atomic bombings of those cities, but also serves as a reminder that 80% of the casualties in all wars are civilians. And it amplifies the testimony of the Japanese survivors, or "Hibakusha," that nuclear weapons must never again be manufactured or used.

The walk is being organized by September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows and the Peace Abbey of Sherborn, Massachusetts. Nominated for the 2003 and 2004 Nobel Peace Prize, Peaceful Tomorrows is an organization founded by family members of those killed on September 11th who have united to turn their grief into action for peace. Since its founding on February 14, 2002, the group has grown to include 4,000 members, with a core group 185 family members who lost parents, children, spouses or siblings on 9/11.

"The Hibakusha and other Japanese people were the first to extend the hand of compassion to those of us who chose not to seek vengeance for the lives of our loved ones after September 11th," said Peaceful Tomorrows member Andrea LeBlanc, whose husband, Robert LeBlanc , Professor Emeritus of Geography at the University of New Hampshire, was killed on United Airlines flight 175.

"A very special bond of understanding has developed among us. The use of war and its heinous weapons, especially nuclear weapons, are unconscionable and are useless tools for achieving the peace which we most desperately seek. But war and its weapons are only symptoms of a greater disease within humanity, the disease of greed and intolerance, and a lack of understanding that whatever harms one of us individually, harms all of us," LeBlanc said.

"Stonewalk" originated with the Peace Abbey, which pulled the memorial to Washington, DC in 1999, through Northern Ireland in 2000, and Coventry, England in 2001. Last summer, they joined Peaceful Tomorrows in pulling the stone from Boston to New York while asking all politicians to consider the human cost of war.

To contact the walkers en route via cell phone in Japan (from U.S.):

Andrea LeBlanc, Peaceful Tomorrows: 011-81-906-829-1646
Dot Walsh, the Peace Abbey: 011-81-906-829-1591

Note that Japan is 13 HOURS AHEAD of U.S. Eastern Daylight Time. Because it will be difficult to return calls, please try to reach the walkers in person rather than leaving messages.

For updates, route and schedule, photos, links and information about U.S. participants and others, visit:
http://www.stonewalk.org/japan/japan.html