“What we learn about and pass on”: The activities of the Chugoku Shimbun Junior Writers
Every year since 2007, the Chugoku Shimbun, a local newspaper in Hiroshima, has invited interested individuals to apply for its “Chugoku Shimbun Junior Writers” program. To date, around 170 participants have completed this program. When the program was first introduced, junior and senior high school students were responsible for planning, conducting interviews, and writing a special feature column once or twice a month called Peace Seeds: Peace Newspaper Produced by Japanese Teens in Hiroshima for the paper. Today, this feature goes by a different name, but its core content has remained the same. The writers are still actively engaged in this initiative. We have spoken to the current batch of Junior Writers at length about their activities and their passion for conducting interviews and writing.