I first wanted to share with you my experience in late August and early September attending a United Nations University (UNU) seminar. As you may know, UNU is based here in Tokyo and offers courses, lectures, training sessions and networking opportunities for those in the field of peace and development work. UNU, similar to the Rotary World Peace Fellowship, tries to bring an academic component to peace and development work, thereby expanding the educational opportunities and experience of those from the field. It is also a great opportunity for students to get a glimpse of the kind of work the United Nations is involved in.
Since arriving to Tokyo, I have not had an opportunity to attend events or take courses at UNU, mostly due to class conflicts at ICU. So, I was excited to attend UNU's Global Seminar, which was weeklong seminar a short trip away from Tokyo in Shonan Village. The theme of the seminar was "Global Challenges and East Asian Responses" and very close to one of my own academic interests. The seminar brought together nearly 90 students (although the majority of them were undergraduates and Japanese) to listen to lectures and discuss issues relevant to East Asia. Because the seminar was bilingual, with lectures and some discussions held in both Japanese and English, I was a bit nervous about attending and understanding everything, but I was proud of myself for keeping up with the native Japanese students!
The focus was on the challenges of building a Northeast Asian community amidst global and regional problems and differences in views on issues such as history, culture, economics, human rights and nuclear non-proliferation. Many of the lecturers and guest speakers offered their perspectives and analysis on these problems and spurred us, the students in attendance, to think about and discuss these issues with them and each other during our student group discussions. In my group, which included students from Japan, China, Mexico (no, not my roommate) and the US, we held candid, dynamic discussions on the issues put forth. Our group even had the opportunity to directly interact with one of the guest lecturers, Korean Sung-Hack Kang, who gave a provocative speech on the rise of China and its (in his view) dire consequences for the region. Since his speech elicited many questions from students, it was great to have him attend our smaller discussion group afterwards to continue that dialogue in a more intimate setting with him. My brain was working overtime that week, and I wrote down numerous questions in my notepad that week and got answers to many of them from students who had obviously thought about them too. Below are some pictures from my discussion group and of Shonan Village:
That week, I was particularly drawn to one of the guest lectures, Professor Kenji Takita, and his speech on how to build an East Asian community. His approach to community building is based on collaboration in functional areas, or concrete problems, and is process-oriented for promoting trust through cooperation. Because Professor Takita’s approach does not model itself after the European Union, it has the possibility to construct an Asian community solving Asian problems with Asian values by Asian leaders and people. As a student in peace studies, I understand the importance of having local communities take the lead in resolving their problems for more sustainable peace. Unfortunately, as an American, I also understand how difficult it is for Western powers not to impose our values and solutions to problems in other regions like Asia. Takita showed a way to approach problems from a different perspective.
I think that the community building approach espoused by Takita offers an opportunity to test this method to the most urgent problem in this region: nuclear weapons on the Korean peninsula. The Six-Party Talks that began in 2003 was an attempt to give ownership to the East Asian powers in solving nuclear proliferation in North Korea by including Japan, China, North & South Korea, Russia and the US, which is also a major actor in the region. Led by China, the talks negotiated with North Korea to end its nuclear program in return for food, security and energy aid from the other parties. The talks crept along for nearly six years in fits and starts but have stalled again this year. Yet, with changes in leadership in the US and Japan and renewed interest from the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on nuclear non-proliferation from UNSC Resolution 1887 passed on September 24, 2009, I think that there is an opening to re-approach the problem and for Japan to use its own history and experience with war and nuclear weapons to take the lead in resuscitating the talks.
As part of my response paper to this seminar and Professor Takita's ideas on building an East Asian community, I devised a plan that centers on Japan to spur forming an East Asia community that works to getting to zero in East Asia. Japan already has the tools to be a leader of nuclear non-proliferation in the region. It is the only country to have experienced first-hand the brutality of nuclear weapons during World War II (WWII). Because of that horrible experience and the cruelty endured by Japanese and other Asian people during that period, Japan has a peace constitution that pledges to renounce war and work towards peace in the world. Since the end of WWII, Japan and its people have worked with the international community, through institutions like the UN, and through its own Three Non-Nuclear Principles to see a world rid of nuclear weapons. I wrote in my paper how I think these attributes can be the building blocks for Japan’s engagement with its neighbors to end nuclear proliferation and build a nuclear-weapons-free zone in East Asian.
The UNU Global Seminar that I attended was a great introduction to the UNU system. I was able to meet many smart Japanese and other Asian students who are working hard to discuss and solve problems in the region. As gray as Japan's political elite is, it was nice for a change to see younger leaders who are tackling the problems their elders are not. I just hope that these young people do not get sucked into Japan's bureacratic political system and have their novel ideas blunted too badly--that would not be helpful to Japan's future! I guess only time will tell!
Best,
JRG
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