The Core Message Remains the Same, but the Vessel for Delivery Changes.

Children are solving mysteries with tablets at a waste treatment facility. In Etajima, middle and high school students are conversing with an AI scammer on the other side of a LINE screen. Meanwhile, on the atomic bomb tram No. 653 running through Hiroshima, passengers are layering the timeline of reconstruction over the view outside the window.

These three seemingly disparate initiatives—environmental education, crime prevention awareness, and peace studies—simultaneously launched in Hiroshima in 2025. The core content that must be conveyed has not changed for decades. What has changed is the vessel used for delivery.

Instead of merely listening to explanations, participants are engaged in a sensory experience. Rather than being told the correct answers, they are thrown into questions. When viewed side by side, it becomes clear that Hiroshima’s “learning infrastructure” is quietly but surely being redesigned.

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The Day the Waste Treatment Facility Became a “Mystery Solving Stage”

Starting this fiscal year, Hiroshima City’s Environmental Bureau has introduced a tablet-based mystery-solving program into tours of waste treatment facilities. Approximately 90 fourth graders from Kusatsu Elementary School, the first participating school, walked through the facility while solving “mysteries” related to waste separation and recycling using hints displayed on their tablets.

Traditionally, facility tours involved walking along a designated route while listening to staff explanations. Children would line up politely, take notes, and write reflections. There is nothing inherently wrong with this approach. However, staff members have long felt a lack of engagement, sensing that while children were listening, it was unclear whether the message was truly reaching them.

By adopting a mystery-solving format, children take the initiative to seek out information. To answer the question, “What is the temperature of burnable waste?” they read the display board of the incinerator with their own eyes. At the moment of confirming the answer, exclamations of surprise arise, such as, “Wow, it’s that high!”—a reaction that is difficult to evoke through mere explanation.

About 3 million yen was invested in developing the program. While this may seem like a small budget at first glance, it is noteworthy that this program is designed as a reusable “template” that can be implemented in other elementary schools across the city. It creates a learning vessel that operates as a system, independent of individual explanatory skills. The Hiroshima City Environmental Bureau plans to expand the program to more schools while improving its content based on feedback from participating schools.

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Why AI Takes on the Role of “Scammer”

The AI-based scam simulation event held in Etajima City has a somewhat unique structure. Participating middle and high school students exchange messages on LINE with an entity that presents “investment opportunities” or “side job offers.” That entity is a generative AI.

Social media-based scams—such as investment fraud and romance scams—have surged nationwide, with victims increasingly coming from younger demographics. According to statistics from the National Police Agency, the total amount of damage from social media-based investment and romance scams exceeded 200 billion yen in 2024, marking a record high. The age range of victims is broadening, with younger individuals becoming more frequently involved.

It is easy to say, “Be careful of scams” in words. However, experiencing the flow of messages that skillfully build trust on one’s smartphone screen shakes the belief that “I am safe.” One participating high school student remarked, “I almost believed it for a while. It was scary.” This “scary” feeling is likely the core target of this program.

There is also practical rationale behind using AI as the scammer. If a human were to play the role, it would require as many personnel as there are scenarios. With AI, conversations can branch based on participants’ responses, allowing each individual to experience a different way of being “scammed.” Moreover, it can be replicated as many times as needed.

Hiroshima Prefecture has expressed its intention to expand this initiative to other regions within the prefecture. Here, too, the key is the reusability of the “template.” It is designed not as a one-time awareness event but as a system that can be used repeatedly—similar in structure to the mystery-solving program at the waste treatment facility.

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The Timeline of Atomic Bomb Tram No. 653

The third venue is the interior of the atomic bomb tram No. 653, owned by Hiroshima Electric Railway. This tram, which survived the atomic bombing on August 6, 1945, has been restored and is known as a symbol of Hiroshima’s reconstruction.

The reconstruction tour held this time was planned as part of a project to consider urban development in Hiroshima leading up to the 100th anniversary of the bombing in 2045. Participants boarded tram No. 653 and, while listening to a lecturer’s explanation about the changes in the streets visible from the windows, they experienced the journey of reconstruction.

What sets this tour apart from a mere “riding experience” is its design to layer time. What existed beneath the current buildings and roads visible from the windows? In what order were things rebuilt, and what decisions were made along the way? The lecturer unravels the countless choices and steps folded within the word “reconstruction” by showing maps and photographs.

One participant remarked, “I had been using the term reconstruction vaguely, but I realized that someone had been redesigning each road and bridge.” This reflection indicates that peace education can progress from the stage of “knowing sadness” to “understanding the mechanisms” behind it.

The atomic bomb tram as a vessel is not something newly created; it has existed for 80 years. However, what is placed within that vessel—whether it be a riding experience or a time to decipher the structure of reconstruction—can completely change what is conveyed.

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Common Design Philosophy Across the Three Venues

The mystery-solving at the waste treatment facility, the AI scam experience, and the reconstruction tour on the atomic bomb tram. When placed side by side, what emerges is a shift in focus from the “teaching side” to the “experiencing side.”

Traditional learning has a one-way structure where those who know convey information to those who do not. This is not inherently bad, but there are limits to how far the message can reach. Particularly, themes like waste separation, scam awareness, and peace education often encounter the barrier of “I understand it’s important, but it doesn’t feel personal.”

To overcome that barrier, each of the three venues has chosen different means. Mystery-solving, AI, and the atomic bomb tram. While the methods vary, the core design is the same—transforming information from “knowledge” to “realization” through the participants’ own sensory experiences.

Another commonality is that they all aim for a “non-personalized system.” It is not a structure that ends when a passionate staff member transfers; rather, it remains as a program or device that can be passed on to the next person in charge. The learning vessel operates as a system, independent of individual capabilities. This may seem subtle, but it is a design decision that relates to the essence of sustainability.

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Who Benefits from This?

Finally, I want to pose a question from a slightly different angle: Who benefits from these initiatives?

One might want to say, “The children.” It could also be said, “The young people who will avoid falling victim to scams.” However, looking a bit closer, it is also the “communicators” who benefit. Staff members at the frontline who repeat the same explanations year after year, unsure if their messages are getting through as they face the next school year. Crime prevention officers who distribute awareness flyers but see no reduction in incidents. Those involved in peace education who are grappling with how to pass on experiences to the next generation amid the aging of storytellers.

Changing the vessel also means changing the burden structure for the deliverers. If the system supports people, they can focus more on the essential aspects—observing the reactions of the children in front of them, considering improvements to the program.

The three quietly initiated experiments in Hiroshima are still small. However, within their design philosophy, there is a visible will to support the ongoing endeavor of “continuing to convey” through systems rather than individual dedication. When the learning vessel changes, it is not only the learners who transform—the daily lives of the deliverers also gradually and certainly change.