Brief Biography

Born in Tokyo in 1942.

B.S and M.S. in mathematics:  University of Tokyo

Ph.D. in mathematics:  MIT

Taught at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, Tufts University, Hiroshima Shudo University and Hiroshima University.

Created and managed the Akiba Project (Hibakusha Travel Grant Program) which invited international journalists to Hiroshima and Nagasaki to help the world understand the realities of the atomic bombings and the message of hibakusha better. 

Represented Hiroshima as a national Diet member from 1990 to 1999.  Elected Mayor of Hiroshima in 1999 and served three terms until 2011. 

From 2011 through 2014, served as Chairman of the Middle Powers Initiative (MPI), President of AFS Japan and Professor by Special Appointment of Hiroshima University.

As President of Mayors for Peace, helped the organization grow from around 440 members to approximately 5,000 during his tenure.

Notable improvements during his tenure include changes in fiscal health, transparency, citizen service and youth violence.  Also known for the construction of a new baseball stadium and a bid to host the Olympic Games.    

Received such awards as the IPB Sean MacBride Award, the first Calgary Peace Award, the Ramon Magsaysay Award (also known as the Asian Nobel Prize in 2010), Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award (2011), the first Gautam Buddha International Peace Award (from the government of Nepal in 2011). the Distinguished Peace Leadership Award from the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation (2011), Community of Christ International Peace Award (2012), Otto Hahn Peace Medal in God from the United Nations Association of Gemany-Berlin・Brandenburg (2013) and Reverend Kiyoshi Tanimoto Peace Award (2015).

Publications include The Pearl and the Cherry-tree (Asahi Shimbun). Computers with faces (Computer Age), Hiroshima: A Thriving City (Kaimeisha) and Mayor of Hiroshima (Asahi Shimbun in 2011) and Reconciliation instead of Retaliation (Iwanami Shoten, 2015),