Tadatoshi Akiba | |
|---|---|
秋葉 忠利 | |
.jpg) Akiba in 2010 | |
| Mayor of Hiroshima | |
| In office 23 February 1999 – 7 April 2011 | |
| Preceded by | Takashi Hiraoka |
| Succeeded by | Kazumi Matsui |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1942-11-03)November 3, 1942 (age 82) Tokyo, Japan |
| Political party | Social Democratic Party (since 1996) |
| Other political affiliations | Japan Socialist Party (until 1996) |
| Alma mater | University of Tokyo Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Awards | •Nuclear-Free Future Award (2007) •Ramon Magsaysay Award (2010) •Ahmadiyya Muslim Prize for the Advancement of Peace (2022) |
Tadatoshi Akiba (秋葉 忠利,Akiba Tadatoshi, born November 3, 1942 inArakawa, Tokyo) is a Japanesemathematician andpolitician and served as themayor of the city ofHiroshima, Japan from 1999 to 2011.
He studied mathematics at theUniversity of Tokyo, receiving a B.S. in 1966 and an M.S. in 1968. He continued his studies underJohn Milnor at theMassachusetts Institute of Technology, earning his PhD in mathematics in 1970. He took teaching jobs at a series of universities:State University of New York at Stony Brook (1970),Tufts University (1972–1986), andHiroshima Shudo University (1986–1997). His research was ontopology, with an interest inhomotopy groups.
While at Tufts, Akiba established theHibakusha Travel Grant program, which brought several American print and broadcast journalists annually to Hiroshima in August, to craft stories about the city (and typically about the experiences of those exposed to the atomic bomb in 1945).[1]
As a member of theSocial Democratic Party, he was elected to theHouse of Representatives, and served from 1990 to 1999. He assumed office as mayor of Hiroshima in February, 1999, and was reelected to this position in 2003 and in April 2007.[2]
As mayor, he has been a visiblepeace activist. He is active in theMayors for Peace organization, serving as the president of their World Conference. The2020 Vision Campaign launched in 2003, which aims to eliminatenuclear weapons, has earned Mayors for Peace the "World Citizenship Award" from theNuclear Age Peace Foundation in 2004, the "Sean McBride" Award from theInternational Peace Bureau in 2006, and theNuclear-Free Future Award from the Franz-Moll Foundation in 2007. He has also been an advocate of the abolition ofnuclear weapons, and a vocal critic ofGeorge W. Bush. Since May 2007 he is also Councillor at theWorld Future Council.
In 2007 he received theNuclear-Free Future Award in the solutions category.[3]
He was longlisted for the 2008World Mayor award, but failed to win, as the award went to MayorHelen Zille ofCape Town,Republic of South Africa.[4]
On January 21, 2010, he attended the 78th winter meeting of theU.S. Conference of Mayors as a special guest speaker, and in that capacity attended the reception held at theWhite House and met US PresidentBarack Obama.[5] He is so far the only serving Mayor of Hiroshima who has officially met a serving US president.
In August 2010, he received theRamon Magsaysay Award for his advocacy for nuclear disarmament, and in April 2013 he was awarded theOtto Hahn Peace Medal from the United Nations Association of Germany (DGVN) and the Governing Mayor of Berlin.
Akiba is on the Board of Advisors of the Global Security Institute.
Hiroshima is one place outside the United States whereMartin Luther King Jr. Day is observed with equal importance as in the United States. Tadatoshi Akiba holds a special banquet at the mayor's office as an act of unifying his city's call for peace withKing's message of human rights.[6]
In August 2022, he was awarded theAhmadiyya Muslim Prize for the Advancement of Peace.[7]
In the new year address on January 4, 2011, Akiba announced he would not run for reelection during the mayoral election scheduled for April 10, 2011. No reasons were given.[8][9] In early April it was reported thatHiroshima University has appointed Akiba as special professor, effective from his retirement as mayor.[10] On April 10,Kazumi Matsui was elected the new Mayor. On August 3, 2012, he was appointed chairman of the Middle Powers Initiative (MPI), an international network of non-governmental organizations working for nuclear disarmament.[11]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)| Preceded by | Mayor of Hiroshima 1999–2011 | Succeeded by |
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