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Life Onboard |
LAST UPDATE
September 3, 2008
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| site design imagesparkle.com |
| August 28, 2008 |
In Pictures – Photo Tour IV of Life Onboard |
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Each Peace Boat voyage, a team of volunteer interpreters, known as Communication Coordinators (CCs), joins the voyage to bridge the various language and cultural barriers between participants, guest educators and partners around the world. The CC team for the 62nd Voyage, comprised of 12 women and 2 men, joined Peace Boat with a range of motivations including to help people learn about the world, to further their own global education, to tune their translation skills and to use the experiences throughout the voyage to decide upon the next step in their lives.
Fluent in English and Japanese, many CCs also had a strong command of other languages such as Spanish and Mandarin. On the voyage, they provided the invaluable service of translating between Japanese and English and/or Spanish during lectures, festivals, self-planned events and at ports.
Given the broad range of issues covered during the voyage, the CCs are required to spend many hours planning and studying, in order to grasp a clear understanding of very complex subjects within this short time. They were able to draw on their international experiences, particularly living abroad, to enrich Peace Boat’s global education program. In their spare time, they held self-organised events such as talks on politics, the environment and human rights, as well as teaching capoeira and Spanish. |
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Peace Boat passenger Hiroshi Iwasawa was 24 years old when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima 63 years ago. He was a mere 3.5 km away from ground zero and only survived because of the protection of a school wall in front of him. Since then, he has been actively involved in supporting and providing solace for his fellow hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors), who have faced discrimination in Japan because of increased likelihood of disease.
On August 9, a series of events were organized to pay respects to the atomic bomb victims of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. As well as a very moving recount of Mr Iwasawa's experience, a theatrical piece of ‘Pika of Hiroshima’ (pika referring to the blinding flash of light at the time of the explosion) was enacted by passengers who had been learning recitations from guest speaker, stage director and play writer, Ippei Yuki.
Education about Hiroshima and Nagasaki is a key part of Peace Boat's peace and disarmament education programme. Following on, 100 hibakusha will be joining the upcoming 63rd Global Voyage, sharing their testimonies and calls for nuclear abolition throughout the world - please watch the Peace Boat web site for further updates. |
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An international panel discussion on War and Peace was held on August 15, 63 years after the end of World War II in the Pacific. The panel included Korean, Japanese and Chinese passengers, American, New Zealand and Argentinean GET Teachers and guest educator, journalist Hiroaki Idaka.
The talks started with the significance of the day in each respective country and ended with each member being asked how they believed peace could be brought into this world.
GET Teacher Gus Feldman said, “If we want to stop war, we need to understand why war happens in the first place. Because war has become one of the most profitable industries in the world, we need to give leaders NO other option than peaceful resolution, by making war very costly”. He said that strikes and direct actions of civil disobedience are one way for societies to ensure their governments do not opt for a military resolution. |
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Fondly known as “Pixie”, Chon Tesung is a 3rd generation Korean living in Japan.
Though he has had opportunities to learn the Korean language and culture at school, he has grown up within the discrimination against Koreans that is still present in Japanese society.
After partaking in a discussion about such discrimination with Mina Sakai, an Ainu from Japan, he said that he had been inspired to work towards changing the image of the 60 000 Koreans living in Japan into something positive, just as she has been doing with the Ainu.
As part of his university education, 21 year old Pixie plans to go to Korea this year, to study ways to unify North and South Korea. |
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As Peace Boat crossed into the Pacific Ocean passengers wore their beautiful Yukata and Jinbei to celebrate the traditional Summer Festival of Japan. The afternoon session opened with dances from all over the world, including from Fiji and New Zealand. This was followed by competitive games of lemon, shaved ice and watermelon eating, and the partying continued into the evening. Food and game stalls were also present in true Natsu Matsuri (Summer Festival) style. Though it was a very cold day, passengers were able to reminisce about the festival which is one of the most enjoyable, and looked forward to community and family events in Japan. |
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