Japanese high school students working as "peace ambassadors" for the abolition of nuclear weapons collected signatures for the first time since the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony.

Twelve high school students from Hiroshima Prefecture, including the members of peace ambassadors, collected signatures at Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Park on Sunday.

They told people that the power of individuals adds up and can change the world.

A woman in her 40s from Shizuoka Prefecture said the students' activities are important in preventing the memories of the bombings from being forgotten, and that she gave her signature hoping that wars will be gone from the world.

Three of the 23 peace ambassadors are working in Hiroshima, and their representative attended this year's Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony in the Norwegian capital of Oslo on December 10th.

Seventeen-year-old Okimoto Kosaku, who is one of the ambassadors from Hiroshima City, said he thinks it is meaningful to collect signatures in Hiroshima, which suffered an atomic bombing, at a time when the city is attracting attention from the world thanks to the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Hidankyo, a Japanese group of hibakusha, or atomic bomb survivors.

He said he wants to continue activities to raise public awareness for the abolition of nuclear weapons, as the Peace Prize was not the end goal.