Publicity
Voices of Participants
Peace Seminar in Okinawa 2019
Voices of participants are posted on our Facebook page during each seminar.
This article is a collection of such voices of those who participated in Peace Seminar in Okinawa 2019, which was held from February 18th to 23rd, 2019.
February 18th
Mai’s reflection of the day.
The most impressive thing today was the community building.Through a balloon competition and a game where everyone’s name and birthday were remembered, I was able to relax and get along with various people. On the other hand, I could not speak very well as the people around me spoke English fluently. However, I was able to feel the joy of talking with people I met for the first time by talking while using gestures to help convey what I wanted to say. At the end of the first day, I thought it was good that I was courageous and participated even though I could not speak English well.
February 19th
Riri’s reflection of the day.
What was particularly impressive today was the movie night.I’ve seen a lot of US army bases from the outside, but I’ve never been inside to see and know how the army is. The film “One shot, One kill” allowed me to understand the US military in many dimensions. Especially, it was shocking to see the reality of the US military base such as newcomers are only allowed to reply “Yes, Sir!/ Yes Ma’am!”, they all are required to wear the same clothes, there is no individuality, the superiors bully newcomers. I learned more about the US military base in many ways by watching this movie.
February 20th
Sae’s reflection of the day.
On the third day, I heard stories about history and went to the ruins and museums. When I come to Okinawa for travel, I feel like I’m excited about the beautiful sea, nature, and mild climate, but I feel that going to Gama and the museum realized that war was happening here. It was possible. Through looking at past struggles and present problems, it became an opportunity to think about what peace is about and what I can do specifically.
February 21st
Rina’s reflection of the day.
What was particularly impressive from today was that the three countries: Korea, the Philippines, and Japan have announced, from their respective perspectives, the issue of the US military bases in each country and the issue of comfort women. The presentation about the Comfort Women and the issue of US military bases from the three countries, Korea, the Philippines’, and Japanese points of view is very impressive. I’ve acknowledged the problems across the world, but now I feel, receive and understand deeply by listening from the people living there. Also, regarding the comfort women issue, it has been expressed as “COMFORT WOMAN” in English, and one of the participants said that it was necessary to consider whose “COMFORT” was that?
I would like to learn more about comfort women’s issues, standing by the people’s feelings of who got involved in this issue to do not to repeat the terrible history. I was scared of getting to know about the comfort women’s issues before but now I feel the importance of learning more from what I felt today.
February 22nd
Niki’s reflection of the day.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. (Matthew 5: 9) NIV
Today’s morning devotion began at this point. The point was that it would be blessed to create peace rather than talk or think about peace. Today, which was the last day of “Okinawa’s training for thinking about peace in Okinawa,” after learning academically about “peace”, we talked about each thought at the beach. In addition to deepening my experiences and thoughts on the peace I gained in this seminar, I strongly felt that I would like to be a person who creates peace in the current situation.