OSLO -- Thirteen drawings depicting the atrocities experienced by "hibakusha" survivors of the Hiroshima atomic bombing on Aug. 6, 1945, are on display at the Nobel Peace Center's exhibit "A Message to Humanity" in Oslo, Norway. What is the power of one drawing? I explored this question upon my visit to the Nobel Peace Center exhibit.

"I hope that my mom's illustration will contribute to world peace," said the son of one hibakusha during an interview I conducted in Hiroshima shortly before my trip to Oslo to cover the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.

Every year, the Nobel Peace Center holds an exhibit to introduce that year's Nobel Peace Prize laureate. I visited the center to see the exhibit during a press preview on Dec. 9, ahead of the exhibit opening to the public on Dec. 12. This year's Nobel Peace Prize laureate is Nihon Hidankyo, a grassroots group of hibakusha survivors which was founded in 1956.

Right near the entrance of the exhibit was a screen that repeatedly showed a scene from the anime "Barefoot Gen," which is based on the experiences of the late author Keiji Nakazawa, who survived the atomic bombing as a young boy. Nearby were photographs of hibakusha scarred with severe burns from the day of the bombing. Further into the room was a table whose drawers contained postcard size printouts of the 13 A-bomb drawings provided by Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Museum.

Media crews from other global organizations were reporting about the exhibit near the hibakusha photos. However, there were barely any people who paused in front of the A-bomb drawings. After waiting awhile, I met a male reporter who stopped and started taking photos of the drawings. I immediately approached him.

"There're kids in these drawings," said 39-year-old photojournalist Javad Parsa, who works for the Norwegian News Agency (NTB). He frowned as he pointed at one drawing.

It showed countless people diving into and drowning in a river to flee from raging fires, including a boy with a buzzcut hanging onto a tree branch and young children held by their mothers on a small boat.

The author of this drawing is Yoko Suga, who was on the verge of death following the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, but survived and lived until the age of 80. She passed away in 2011. Before my departure for Oslo, I talked with Suga's 69-year-old son Takafumi, a resident of Hiroshima. Suga apparently liked to create watercolor paintings, but it is likely that this drawing depicting her experience of the atomic bombing was a unique piece.

Parsa, who held up the drawing and was gazing at it seriously, told me he has three kids aged 3 to 10. He said, "What if the same thing happened to my family... Children should have been born to live in a peaceful world."

While listening to him speak, I was reminded of my encounters with people back home in Hiroshima.

I have been reporting about the atomic bombing for around three years in Hiroshima. I have visited the city's Peace Memorial Museum many times, and have asked visitors what displays left a lasting impression on them. I've gotten various answers, but they also have something in common. For example, an adult with young children points to the burnt tricycle of a little boy who was burned by the bomb's heat rays and died the night of the atomic bombing, and middle schoolers mention the photos showing the faces of students who died in the bombing. Many people imagine their own loved ones and themselves in the photos and belongings of people who passed away, and seem to grasp the gravity of the damage caused by the A-bomb. For Parsa, he must have seen his own children as he viewed Suga's drawing.

Parsa is an immigrant who left Iran to live in Norway around 15 years ago. In 2009, he photographed public protests following the reelection of then Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a populist hardliner, and the image was chosen for the cover of a June 2009 edition of Time magazine. However, he sensed danger as he learned a fellow photographer he knew was detained by authorities, and fled to Norway via Turkey.

"Expression has the power to start war, as well as to end war. The A-bomb drawings have the power to cause so much fear that all countries would want to get rid of nuclear weapons," Parsa said.

The power of hibakusha's testimonies was given as the reason for the choice to award Nihon Hidankyo this year's Nobel Peace Prize. The drawings created by hibakusha are also precious "testimonies." Maybe the effect one drawing has on society is tiny. But, I believe that the accumulation of such small changes can turn into a large force capable of changing the world.

A few hours after parting ways with Parsa, he texted me a message saying that one day, he wants to visit Hiroshima and create a documentary featuring hibakusha.

(Japanese original by Deockwoo An, Hiroshima Bureau)