The Sata Foundation, a non-profit charitable foundation for world peace and well-being of peoples, is inspired by the historic event of sixty-seven years ago, on 9 August 1945, when the city of Nagasaki became the second Japanese city bombed by a nuclear weapon.

According to the Federation of American Scientists, as of 6 March 2012, there were approximately 20,000 warheads in the world’s combined stockpile of nuclear weapons. The Nuclear Security Summit held in Seoul in March 2012, with 53 heads of government and leaders of four international organizations participating, focused on cooperative measures to combat the threat of nuclear terrorism, protection of nuclear materials and related facilities, and prevention of illicit trafficking of nuclear materials. In the aftermath of the earthquake/tsunami that undermined the safety of Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant in March 2011, radiological security and nuclear security-safety interface were also on the Summit’s agenda. Unfortunately, the Summit, as well as today’s world, was still far from achieving total elimination of nuclear weapons and allocating hard-earned taxpayers’ money to better the well-being of peoples who care little about wars waged in the name of patriotism, territorial sovereignty or “national interests” .

So, nuclear weapons are still with us. Ironically, little progress has been made to address the shortfall of medical isotopes produced by atomic technology to diagnose cancers and other diseases in 30 million procedures each year. This is an area where, sadly, science for living is overshadowed by the use of the same scientific technology for a more sinister purpose.

Several efforts have been made to alert humankind to the plight of nuclear weapons. For example, the Peace Boat cruise ship travels around the world to campaign for a world free of nuclear weapons. In February and March of this year, it carried almost 1,000 passengers, including around 130 survivors of the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The Sata Foundation is part of the aforesaid efforts for world peace. Our logo is the charred head of the statue of the Madonna, found amid the wreckage of the Urakami Cathedral in Nagasaki at the epicentre of the atomic bombing. This statue has been exhibited in the Spanish city of Guernica and in New York during the Review Conference on the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) at the United Nations Headquarters. The world has, therefore, come to appreciate the value of the Madonna of Nagasaki as a powerful symbol to deter future wars and a symbol for a nuclear-weapon-free world.

Years after years, new names are added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List. The List now consists of about 1,000 properties forming part of the cultural and natural heritage which the World Heritage Committee considers as having outstanding universal value. These include over 700 cultural, around 200 natural and approximately 30 mixed properties in all continents. In terms of “having outstanding universal value” alone, more than 20,000 people from around the world have considered the Madonna of Nagasaki as having the same outstanding universal value as the Hiroshima Peace Memorial (Genbaku Dome), which has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage since 1996. Please join our cause for a universal recognition of the Madonna of Nagasaki as a symbol for a more peaceful and humane world.

Inspired by a vision to alleviate the plights and sufferings of fellow human-beings, I have also set up the Rentai Tohoku Foundation (which can be translated as the Solidarity Tohoku Foundation) in the aftermath of the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and its consequential tsunami on 11 March 2011 that killed about 16,000 people in Tohoku in Japan. That Foundation (http://www.rentaitohoku.org) provides support for the self-reliance and jobs for people who still live under threat from the nuclear radiation leakage from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Once again, the Sata Foundation has organized the annual “Run for Peace” cycling rally in Chailly-sur-Armançon, France, to commemorate the anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (www.courirpourlapaix.com). This year, the 8th Run for Peace cycling rally will be held on Saturday 28 July, with approximately 500 cyclists expected to take part. There will be three circuits: Hiroshima (158 km.), Nagasaki (113 km.) and Tohiku (72 km.). Proceeds from the Rally go to charities whose work falls within the Sata Foundation’s mission. Last year’s proceeds from the rally went to the victims of the Tohoku earthquake/tsunami.

Your kind support for the Sata Foundation’s causes would be most appreciated.