The Second Exhibition on Music in Peacebuilding organised by Min-On Music Research Institute (MOMRI) in collaboration with the Min-On Music Museum is now in full swing at the Min-On Music Museum in Shinanomachi, Tokyo, Japan Tokyo.

At the entrance of the exhibition, you will find the Yoko Matsuba Hibaku Piano, one of eleven pianos that survived the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  Based on the word Hibakusha, which is reserved for survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the US Army Air Force in 1945, Hibaku Piano is the term used for pianos that have survived these bombings.

The piano is played twice a day for the public, and just being able to feel connected with what happened on that day through the sheer presence of this instrument seems to leave a profound impression on the visitors.

This Hibaku Piano offers an opportunity to reflect on the horror of nuclear weapons at a time when we are dangerously close to potential nuclear confrontations, and also when movements for nuclear abolition are gaining more traction, for example, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), which received the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize.  At the Nobel Peace Prize Concert that year, John Legend performed on another Hibaku Piano.

The exhibition will run until 29 June 2025.  Find out more here.

Mitchell Institute International Advisory Board Member, Dr Olivier Urbain is the Director of MOMRI.