I recently confirmed my summer internship plans for my applied field experience. I will be interning here in Tokyo at Peace Boat. Peace Boat is a non-profit organization that works to promote peace, human rights, equal and sustainable development and respect for the environment by seeking to create awareness and action based on effecting positive social and political change in the world. It pursues this through the organization of global educational programmes, responsible travel, cooperative projects and advocacy activities.
I am interested in interning for Peace Boat this summer in Japan because of its mission to connect real people to peace. So far this year, I have learned how difficult it can be to move people to real action towards peace. Peace education takes real work and dispersing what students like myself learn in class to the general public takes even more work. Finding an ideal model in which to facilitate educating the public about issues of peace and violent conflict resolution is also difficult, yet I think Peace Boat has found a model that can work to outreach to the people in Japan, the Asian region, and around the world. I wish to learn more about the model Peace Boat has developed to educate people about issues of peace, violence and conflict resolution.
In Japan, a country that is known to be among the safest in the world with little violence, that has experienced first-hand the cruel destruction of nuclear weapons and, yet, for over 60 years has also been a pacifist nation, it is an ideal place to begin education about peace. Japan and its people have much to teach the world about war and peace through its past and current experiences. Yet peace education in Japan also faces challenges. For instance, as the history of war and atomic bombings fade into the past, so too can feelings for the need to work to continue to preserve peace in Japan and spread it around the world. Peace Boat is addressing this issue with its peace voyages. Peace Boat is also addressing those in Japan who would like to see a return to days when it was militarized and “normal,” increasing chances that military conflict could again come to Japan and the East Asian region. In this area particularly, I am interested in Peace Boat’s past Article 9 Campaign and its continued work on this issue.
My thesis topic, which I will begin writing next year and would like to use my time at Peace Boat as research, is a study about Japan's post-war defense and diplomatic issues, especially current arguments for and against revising article nine to the Japanese constitution and how those changes could affect East Asian security issues and Japan's military ties to the United States. For my study of article nine, I plan to take an in-depth look at the arguments for and against changing the country's military status. In particular, I will ask questions, such as why do certain groups advocate for changing the constitution and how do they convince those in the electorate to change their views on war? What are politicians, activists groups and Japanese people doing to keep the constitution as is and even strengthen its pacifist principles? Also, what are the national and regional consequences of attempting to re-write the constitution?
The courses in my first year at ICU have laid a solid foundation for my continued studies in East Asian security issues and diplomatic relations. I would like to use my time at Peace Boat to more fully understand its position and activist work, particularly how it raises awareness and engages with Japan’s civil society to promote peace in various ways. By aiding Peace Boat in its work and research and interacting with people in the organization, I will be able to have first-hand and real-world experience working on peace education issues with Japanese civil society. I would also like to help organize or attend conferences, lectures or meetings to observe and understand how Peace Boat attempts to bring its policy recommendations to fruition in Japan. The in-depth knowledge I can gain from working at Peace Boat this summer with leading peace education practitioners in Japan will be invaluable to my own thesis research.
Of course, there will be lots of updates in future blog posts on my time at Peace Boat this summer. Just as I've been learning a lot from my first year at ICU, I hope to learn a lot while I'm interning at Peace Boat.
JRG
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