Friendship for the Future of Asia アジアの未来を作る友情

The Sino-Japan Youth Conerence was a big success!

The Sino-Japan Youth Conference was held in Hong Kong from August 11 to 19, 2009, organized by Li Po Chun United World College of Hong Kong. The organizers were mostly university students who are also graduates of United World Colleges, an international network of colleges with the aim of promoting international understanding and peace. The goal of this conference was to "increase intercultural understanding and mutual respect through cultural activities, discussions on Sino-Japanese relationsihp issues, and service activities conducted in Guandong Province."

この夏、香港で開催された日中青年会議が大成功に終わったとの朗報を受けました。この会議は主に、国際理解を目標に設立された国際的な学校のネットワークであるユナイテット・ワールド・カレッジ（ＵＷＣ）の卒業生たちによって企画運営され、会場はＵＷＣ香港校、対象は中国と日本の中高生たちでした。それぞれの文化、歴史、社会に対する理解を深め、これからの二国の市民同士のよい関係を築いていくための礎となるような会議であったと思います。ピース・フィロソフィー・センターはこの会議のスポンサーとなれて光栄に思います。詳しいレポートはまた発表された時点で共有します。

Congratulatoins, Chishio Furukawa, the chief organizer and a gradute of Li Po Chun College, and Xiaoxue Weng, a gradute of Leter B. Pearson College, and other committee members for the successful completion of the program!

The program report will be posted at a later date.

* Peace Philosophy Centre was one of the sponsoring organizations for this Conference.

Peace Philosophy Salon Fall 2009

(Please note new dates)
"Peace Philosophy Salon" is held mostly on Saturday evenings at Peace Philosophy Centre in Vancouver, BC, Canada. It is an informal gathering in which we learn and discuss issues on peace and sustainability. The past sessions covered Japan's Constitution, Senji Yamamoto, Hiroshima/Nagasaki, and Nanjing Massacre. We will hold the fall sessions on the following Saturday evenings. Topics and detailed information will be posted later. Please see here for reports of past Salons.

October 14

October 21

November 14

November 28

December 5


We look forward to another season of mutual learning and fun!


Peace Philosophy Centre

Bombing Civilians

We apologize for the silence over the summer. We take a group of Canadian students to Hiroshima and Nagasaki every summer, and that make it difficult for us to update our blog regularly. We had another intellectually stimulating, and emotionally engaging tour to the two cities where the first and the last atomic-bombs were dropped on hundreds of thousands of civilians. Regarding the bombing on civilians, before the Hiroshima/Nagasaki trip, I had an opportunity to visit the the Center of the Tokyo Air Raid and War Damages again with my 82-year old father whose family house was burnt down in the Yamate Bombing of May 25, 1945.

Masahiko Yamabe, chief curator of the Center and Seiji Ishibashi, one of the guides there, are among the authors of the newly published book and DVD "Tokyo, Guernika, Chongqing," as the fourth of the series of Iwanami Peace Archives, of which the first three were on Kyoto Museum for World Peace, the Battle of Okinawa, and Hiroshima/Nagasaki. The Center was holding a special exhibit with the same name as the book title to commemorate the publication when we visited. The exhibit helps visitors grasp a broader picture of the history of the firebombing of civilians.

While many Japanese peace museums tend to focus on the firebombing of their own cities and Hiroshima/Nagasaki, portraying Japan more as a victim than a state responsible for starting the war and afflicting so much suffering in many parts of Asia, this Center bravely exhibits the horrific photos and records of Chongqing Bombing, in which both Japanese Army and Navy conducted hundreds of bombing operations from December 1938 to August 1941, years before their own cities were firebombed. Not many Japanese know this fact and few Japanese children learn about it at school.

I would also like to introduce a recently-published book in English "Bombing Civilians - a twentieth-century history" edited by Yuki Tanaka and Marilyn B. Young (The New Press, 2009), to which chapters are contributed on the bombing in the Iraqi War, and on European and Japanese cities, and Chongqing during WWII.

Daniel Ellsberg's Memoir for Hiroshima Day

I wanted to share this deeply moving and alarming memoir that Daniel Ellsberg wrote for the Hiroshima Day this year.

"Hiroshima Day: America Has Been Asleep at the Wheel for 64 Years"

The same article is available in Japan Focus with photos.

ベトナム戦争における政府の嘘を告発するために機密書類をメディアに発表した「ペンタゴン・ペーパー」でも知られるダニエル・エルズバーグ氏は米国の核政策を批判し続けてきている論客でもあります。エルズバーグ氏が原爆開発、投下前後の個人的な体験とその核兵器、核政策の知識を駆使してこの２００９年の広島の日に捧げた回顧録「ヒロシマの日：アメリカは６４年居眠り運転を続けてきた」（英語）をここに紹介します。

この記事は、中国新聞ピース・メディアセンターの「ヒロシマと世界」特集記事として短縮版が８月２４日に発表されました。日本語版はこちらです。

Chugoku Newspaper ran a shortened version of this article on August 24, 2009 as part of the series "Hiroshima and the World." The Japanese version is here.


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Hiroshima Day: America Has Been Asleep at the Wheel for 64 Years
Daniel Ellsberg of Pentagon Papers fame writes that official secrecy and deceptions about our nuclear weapons posture and policies and their possible consequences have threatened the survival of the human species.・

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090805_hiroshima_day_america_has_been_asleep_at_the_wheel_for_64_years/
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また、エルスバーグ氏は、２００９年の９月以降から随時、最新の機密解除された文書などをもとに、アメリカの核政策の隠された歴史についての論文をネット上で連続発表する予定です。このブログでも随時紹介していきます。