Peace Action in Okinawa - the 39th Okinawa old battlefield/base tour and a lecture session- held online
2022.05.17
On March 25, 2022, JCCU and Okinawa Consumers' Co-operative Union held the Peace Action in Okinawa - the 39th Okinawa battlefield/base tour and lectures online as an opportunity to learn about the realities of the Battle of Okinawa and the base issues facing Okinawa today and to think about peace. In view of the spread of COVD-19 infection, this year's event was held online again, as last year, with 539 viewers from 49 consumer co-ops nationwide (viewers on the day of the event only).
In the first half of the program, Professor YAMAGUCHI Takeshi, Faculty of Education, University of Ryukyus, gave a lecture on the Battle of Okinawa and the present-day base issues with a quiz. Reflecting on the situation in Ukraine, Professor Yamaguchi said, "Not to consider war as something vague, but it is important to think about the situation in which people just like us are placed in".
Professor Yamaguchi giving a lecture while showing a fragment of a shell from a naval bombardment
In the second half, Ms. TAIRA Keiko, a survivor of the evacuated ship "Tsushima Maru", which was torpedoed and sank by a US military submarine, killing many civilians including children, shared her war experience. Ms. Taira recounted her fierce experience of being the sole survivor while all her family and relatives aboard the ship were killed, and expressed her strong desire for peace.
Ms. TAIRA Keiko, a survivor of the evacuated ship Tsushima Maru
Subsequently, Mr. SAITO Kaoru, a Student Committee member of the National Federation of University Co-operative Associations (NFUCA) of Japan, and Mr. HIGA Tsuneharu, an Executive Committee member of Peace Now! Okinawa and a student of University of the Ryukyus, reported on the activities of university students in the midst of the COVID-19 disaster, where they are actively using online resources to learn about peace issues.
Mr. SAITO Kaoru, Student Committee Member, National Federation of University Co-operative Associations (NFUCA) of Japan; Mr. HIGA Tsuneharu, Executive Committee Member, Peace Now! Okinawa
Many comments were received such as:
- I listened to the lecture with little knowledge of the Battle of Okinawa. It made me think about how people living today feel about the war in Ukraine.
- I thought I should take to heart the feelings of war that Ms.Taira mentioned.
- I went to Okinawa on a high school excursion, but now that I am a parent, I appreciate the opportunity to learn about war and life in this time period.
