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Life Onboard |
LAST UPDATE
April 25, 2008
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| site design imagesparkle.com |
| April 10, 2008 |
In Pictures – Photo Tour IV of Life Onboard |
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Peace Boat held an “Earth Day” onboard the 60th voyage to celebrate the natural beauty of our earth and the importance of environmental conservation, to encourage environmental activism and lifestyle changes, and to increase awareness of the severity of climate change and other ecological problems. Activities included booths where participants could use primarily recycled materials to make their own chopsticks, bags, water bottle holders, notebooks and original t-shirts. There were also presentations regarding climate change and the development of self-sufficient communities, a yoga workshop, an eco café, an eco haiku display and a recycled art exhibit.
Photo courtesy of Thien Huynh |
site design imagesparkle.com |
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To liven up the onboard atmosphere during the traverse of the South Pacific, Peace Boat invited hula dance master Sandii and musician Bun to join the 60th voyage. Sandii, a top ranked Hawaiian hula dance master known as a Kumuhula, gave hula workshops for participants, and also shared the remarkable story of the legendary Hawaiian ship Hokune’a. Legend has it that long ago, the Hokune’a sailed between the Polynesian islands and as far as Japan, relying only on star navigation. In recent years, a new Hokune’a ship has begun to traverse the same old sea routes, again using only the stars, currents, sun and wind for navigation. Bun, a member of the band Koh-Tao, held workshops to teach participants to play the kalimba, an instrument unique to Africa made from a series of tuned metal strips of varying length mounted on a box; plucked with the thumbs, the kalimba produces a unique, water-like sound. |
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To spread awareness of the extent of the world hunger problem, the 60th voyage held a “Hunger Banquet” onboard. The event began with a presentation of statistics to give people an idea of the extent of malnutrition and starvation in the world. While there is enough food to feed the whole world, over 850 million people suffer from hunger, and approximately half of the world suffers from malnutrition. A fact that startled many people was that while the total amount of food given in aid each year is almost ten million tons, Japan produces over twenty million tons of food waste yearly, making Japan the largest producer of food waste in the world. To get a sense of what hunger feels like, hunger banquet participants ate a meal together, but of the six people at each table, only one person could eat and drink as much as they wanted. Two people were limited to just one bowl of rice and vegetables and one drink, and the remaining three people were limited to a mere glass of water and dinner roll. |
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In Japan, schools hold a sports festival each year at which students compete in a variety of team-building athletic events. It has also become tradition to hold an onboard sports festival on each Peace Boat voyage, and the 60th voyage held theirs while traversing the beautiful, blue South Pacific Ocean. Over 600 people joined the ship-wide event, and everyone was divided into four teams based on the season in which their birthday lies for a fun-filled day of events including a three-legged race, tug of war, modified steeplechase, jump rope, trivia quiz and dance competition. After days of practice and hard work, the autumn team emerged victorious, edging out the winter team by a mere handful of points. |
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Peace Boat held an onboard discussion regarding the controversial proposal to amend Japan’s national constitution between guest educators Kenji Isezaki, a disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) specialist, and Karin Amamiya, an author who focuses on employment problems in Japan and their relation to mental instability, informed by her personal history of wrist cutting and voluntary unemployment. Article 9 of Japan’s constitution, which renounces the war as a means of settling international disputes and prohibits the maintenance of armed forces and other war potential, is currently in threat of being revised. Based upon his extensive field experience in conflict areas, Professor Isezaki stressed the importance of seeking diplomatic solutions to international conflicts, while Ms Amamiya emphasized the need for Japan to turn an eye to its domestic poverty problem, and to the constitution’s Article 25, which guarantees basic human rights for all people. Both Prof. Isezaki and Ms Amamiya are Co-Initiators of the Global Article 9 Conference to Abolish War (whynot9.jp), to be held in Japan in May 2008. |
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Guest educator Isamu Tatsuno, an avid alpinist and the president of the mont-bell outdoor company, charmed Peace Boat participants with his lively flute performances onboard. During his workshops, participants made simple flutes out of PVC piping and then learned how to play them from Mr Tatsuno. He also gave a series of spirited lectures about outdoor adventures such as tackling Switzerland’s Mt Eiger, and the challenges he faced establishing himself in the business world after founding the mont-bell company at the age of 28. |
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The ship visited three Polynesian ports on the 60th voyage: Rapa Nui (Easter Island), Tahiti and (Aotearoa) New Zealand, giving participants the chance to enjoy the different flavors of each distinct but historically linked island culture. The night before arriving at the final Polynesian port, Aotearoa, Peace Boat held a “Polynesian Night” on deck. The event included traditional Tahitian and Hawaiian dances performed by participants, and musical performances by a number of 60th voyage onboard guest educators, all inspired by the tropical and exotic South Pacific atmosphere onboard after the two-week traverse of Polynesian waters. |
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