Assignment: Hiroshima

Not long after Iranian-born Fazl Fotouhi, 46, took over as director of the American Cultural Center in Hiroshima, Japan (pop. 360,000), the sort of incident he had dreaded took place. One day his seven-year-old daughter delivered a gift of some stationery to an elementary school. A group of boys suddenly surrounded her. Screaming "American, your nose is too high. Baka! [stupid idiot]. You dropped the atomic bomb on us," they threatened to beat her with sticks. Though the boys never carried out this 1954 threat, the incident was proof enough that Fazl Fotouhi had a most delicate educational task ahead.

Eventually, the Fotouhis won Hiroshima over. When the news broke that this month his tour of duty with the U.S. Information Service will end, local notables protested. The daily Chugoku Press has printed a suggestion that the Fotouhis be made honorary citizens of Hiroshima. In a letter to the U.S. consul general in Kobe, the mayor of the city, the governor of the prefecture and the president of the university asked that Fotouhi be kept on at least two more years. "He has done more than any other person could ever have done," they wrote, "in the interest of the better and fuller understanding between our two great nations."

Kotos & Bugles. A graduate of George Washington University and a U.S. Army veteran of the New Guinea campaign, Fotouhi set out to convince the Japanese that he had come not only to teach them about the U.S. but to learn as much as he could about Japan. His daughter went to a Japanese school, learned the language, even became adept at sword fighting and playing the koto (harp). In addition to studying the tea ceremony, her mother also took up the koto, and father Fazl learned the shakuhachi (bamboo flute). Last month little Farida gave a recital over the radio, and a few days later the whole family took part in a concert at Hiroshima Public Hall.

In four years Fotouhi has made the American Cultural Center a basic part of life in Hiroshima. Its library attendance has shot up from 35,800 to 85,200. In one year Fotouhi arranged for as many as 2,400 showings of documentary films. The big Atoms for Peace exhibition that he brought to Hiroshima last year is still going the rounds. He has staged concerts by the First Marine Air Wing Drum and Bugle Corps, started a series of seminars on American culture, a Japanese-American folk-dance program. Last Christmas he dressed up as Santa Claus, visited the orphanages in town to distribute gifts.

Greetings & Meetings. Wife Agnes, 37, gave English lessons to the Hiroshima Maidens before they took off for the U.S. for plastic surgery (TIME, Oct. 24, 1955 et seq.), last year taught a course in nutrition that featured 30-yen (10-c-) meals and American recipes for Japanese dishes. Meanwhile, in between a grueling daily round of meetings, greetings, speeches and luncheons, Fazl has found time to lecture at the university, spends two hours each week giving English lessons to a group of political-science students. He took time off on his 1955 home leave to persuade U.S. colleges and universities to grant scholarships to Hiroshima students. So far, 38 boys and girls are now known as "Fotouhi Scholars."

Last week, as he began making arrangements to leave, Fotouhi was still making plans for Hiroshima. Once back home to get his new assignment, he hopes to find sponsors for a hospital, a community center and possibly a new physical-science laboratory for the university. But even if these dreams never come true, Hiroshima will not soon forget him. Wrote one university professor on learning of his coming departure: "I lost my father and all my property in the A-bomb attack, but I have, through Mr. Fotouhi's profound character, come to feel that his remaining here is desired not only for the sake of the U.S. but for the welfare of mankind."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.