Speakers

Kawasaki Akira is a member of the Executive Committee of Peace Boat. He also serves on the International Steering Group of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) and is the sitting President of the Swiss-registered association. Since 2008, Kawasaki has coordinated “Global Voyage for a Nuclear-Free World: Peace Boat's Hibakusha Project,” in which atomic bomb survivors travel the world to share their stories. In 2009 and 2010, he was an advisor to the cochairs of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament. Since the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, he has run a number of projects to spread the messages of those affected, including through organizing two Global Conferences for a Nuclear Power Free World in 2012. As the cochair of Japan NGO Network for Nuclear Weapons Abolition, he facilitates cooperation among NGOs as well as dialogue between civil society and the government of Japan. He lectures at several universities in Tokyo and writes frequently for Japanese newspapers and for peace and disarmament journals. Kawasaki is the recipient of the 33rd Kiyoshi Tanimoto Peace Prize in 2021.