Life Onboard LAST UPDATE  July 12, 2005
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November 8, 2004 In Pictures – Photo Tour 1 of Life Onboard
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Inspired by their experience from a day-long exchange program with the people of Navotas, the Philippines, a group of participants held a lecture to report on the highlighted issue that day: the impact of the Japanese Government’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) on the lives of local people. Widely thought to be completely beneficial to all, the visit to Navotas gave participants a first-hand look into the darker side of Japanese development loans. Participants learned about reckless ODA-funded development projects, but also about the strength of people determined to resist these ‘development’ projects which are detrimental to their traditional way of life.
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Akiko Sasaki is a silent film enthusiast who uses her own voice to add simple dialogue to movies. She joined the ship as a guest speaker and workshop facilitator between Singapore and Mombassa, Kenya. With “new and fresh silent cinema” as her motto, she tours cafes and theatre’s across Japan, screening clips from old silent films and using her voice-over as commentary, brings this ‘ancient’ art form to life. She is holding a series of onboard workshops, where participants are learning the art of the ‘voice-over’. On the eve of her departure participants will perform for the rest of the ship.
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On 2nd November 2004, George W. Bush was re-elected as President of The United States. The effects of this Republican victory on the rest of the world and the latent implications of Bush serving his second term in office were topics introduced by Peace Boat staff member Stacy Hughes. His re-election means that the heavily criticised fundamentalist approach of the Bush Administration has been validated by the US public for another four years. While Bush was re-elected by Americans, his decisions have impact on the rest of the world, despite having no right to vote, people around the world have the right and responsibility to voice their concerns to the Bush Administration and to advocate policy change.
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Every morning at 7am, Yuki, a 75 year old participant and retired English and German professor from Tokyo, introduces a daily peace poem in both English and Japanese. He gathers people together to share beautiful words of peace and nature in poems, as a cathartic and therapeutic way of starting the day. Yuki has come on Peace Boat to broaden his worldly experiences and make the most of his retirement.
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31st October, it is time for Halloween! Peace Boat participants made use of all resources available to produce extravagant costumes and decorations to get into the Halloween mood, and the result was quite thrilling! Several days before the big Halloween event, participants got together to film a home made version of the Japanese horror film ‘The Ring’ and enjoyed learning about the pagan roots of this festival.
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Café Latino is run by the Spanish teachers of the onboard GET language learning programme. Every day at five o’clock out on deck, it’s salsa time, or maybe its singing time, but whatever the daily Spanish theme may be, participants walk away having brought a little Latin flavour into their day. The language, culture, music and dance of Latin America is what participants will experience first hand next month and so this daily dose of salsa, rhumba, merengue and samba is whetting their appetites for the 47th voyage’s visit to the American continent.
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Paige Dobkin, one of the onboard GET teachers, gave a slide show and presentation of her travels in Tibet and talked of the plight of these people who are suffering in silence, weeping for the sacred land that was once theirs, and which they still call home. Introducing Tibetan history since the 1959 invasion by the Chinese military, Dobkin talked about the dreams of freedom that the people of Tibet still hold onto, as well as the peaceful approach espoused by the Dalai Lama to achieve this goal. Rounding off her story were tales of adventure at 5500 meters above sea level and various anecdotes of her brush with altitude sickness.
November 9 was the day of Peace Boat’s 47th voyage Sports Festival. One of the biggest outdoor events of the voyage, four different teams competed against each other in a variety of events both challenging and comical. Tug of war, obstacle course races and team cheerleading competitions were just a few of the activities that took place. Over 600 participants were a part of Sports Day and enjoyed the high-spirited environment to meet with new people and enjoy friendly team building spirit.