Mission Statement
1)Promotion
PNJ’s goal is to help peace people get a more comprehensive view of who is doing what for or against peace.
Peace requires an end to war and violence, but PNJ takes a broader view. Peace culture is our collective, global effort to address poverty, discrepancies in wealth and education, regional and ethnic conflicts, as well as resource and environmental issues.
The human family is facing many serious problems, but one we have to deal with immediately is the threat posed by nuclear weapons. The idea that these weapons are preserving world peace is ridiculous. What they preserve is privilege, which is why they are spinning out of control. We live today with a growing threat that nuclear weapons will be used in war, a terrorist attack, or by accident. If one is used, others are likely to follow, and if a dozen or so are exploded over large cities, the particles they put into the air will darken and cool the Earth, leading to crop failure and a global famine. Billions will starve; human civilization will collapse.
Luckily, a new global movement led by Switzerland and Norway is drawing attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any nuclear exchange and seeking to make all nuclear weapons illegal. An international treaty banning nuclear weapons would be an enormous step toward peace. If the international community agrees to ban nuclear weapons, that would be an enormous step toward collective survival. And, if we can take that step, the path will be opened to other steps for collective survival. We might, for example, figure out how to reduce CO2 emissions, manage fisheries, wean ourselves from fossil fuels and nuclear energy, or do something about the obscene, destabilizing gap between rich and poor. On the other hand, if we fail to recognize nuclear weapons as “enemies of humanity” and are unable to eliminate this collective threat, how can we possibly solve our other far more difficult global problems?
Peace News Japan will present information, groups and individuals we believe can enhance our chances of collective survival, and because Japan is the country of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Fukushima, we will pay special attention to nuclear weapons and nuclear power.
2)What
Do you know how the Japanese government is engaging with the new movement to ban nuclear weapons? The story is almost entirely ignored by mainstream media. We will present information from the frontlines of this movement to help you know “the facts” and figure out what you can do to help.
One of our goals is to offer ways you can act in your family or community to promote peace as you go about your daily lives. In fact, every time you spend any money at all, you are supporting either the peace culture or the war culture. Are you aware that a new smartphone application can help you make sure that all your purchases support peace? With this new application, you can take your phone into most stores, read the product bar codes, and find out which companies lie behind each product. At the same time, you can find out whether or not those companies are being boycotted by peace people. Check out www.buycott.com.
PNJ will introduce you to organizations, groups and individuals who are working for peace because we believe you need to know what is being done and by whom. We hope this information will help you get involved, but we know through experience that just knowing about each other helps peace people generate synergy and increase our influence. PNJ hopes to hasten in some small way the day when our children or their children will look back in horror at war and violence as we now look back on gladiators, feeding people to lions for entertainment, open imperialist genocide, and chattel slavery. As Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “The moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” At PNJ, we believe that arc can only get to justice through peace.
Board members and staff
Kyoko Okumoto
Kyoko Okumoto works in the fields of peace studies, conflict transformation, and nonviolent intervention, with a particular focus on arts-based approaches to peacework. She teaches and facilitates peace workshops held mainly by civil society groups, schools and universities. She works to expand and deepen networking among North East Asian CSO/NGO people, and between NE Asia and South East Asia, and also with South Asia.
Kazuya Asakawa
Mr. Kazuya Asakawa teaches at Tokaigakuen University, Nagoya, Japan. His main interest is peace education; he has been developing teaching materials regarding global issues while promoting participatory methodologies of foreign language education. He has published several textbooks and articles for English classes; his team translates books on peace into Japanese, including Learning to Abolish War and Great Peacemakers.
Global education for peace education in Japan http://gcpej.jimdo.com/
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/GCPEJ
Tamiko Nishijima
Long-time activist and organizer
Kanto Area representative for Project Now! and the Yes Campaign.
Yuko Takabe
Yuko Takabe runs a company to produce teaching materials and documentaries to contribute to the creation of a culture of peace.
She directed and produced "The way to be happy for everybody", 3 short animations for conflict resolution.
『みんながHAPPYになる方法』 http://www.peacevideo.net
Takehiko Ito
Takehiko Ito works in the fields of peace psychology, positive psychology, critical psychology, and conflict transformation. He is Professor of Psychology at Wako University in Tokyo.
Website www.itotakehiko.com
Toshihide Mori
■ Buddhist monk (Jodoshu Shomyoji Temple in Osaka )
■ The Ogasawara Islands, Chichijima Jodoshu Gyogyoji Temple Liaison officer
Gyogyoji Temple :
Gyogyoji Temple holds memorial services for American and Japanese who died during WWII on Iwojima.
Advisor
Steven Leeper
■ From 2007 to 2013 he was chairman of the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation.
■ From 2002 to 2007, he was US representative for Mayors for Peace, the campaigning arm of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
■ From 1999 to 2002 he worked with peace activists in Hiroshima and Atlanta, GA through a non-profit organization called Global Peacemakers Association.
■ He is joining the teaching faculty of Hiroshima Jogakuin University from September, 2013.
Secretariat and contact information
Toshihide Mori
e-mail pnjapan.office@gmail.com
adrress Shomyoji Temple 4-3-15 Shinzaike-cho-higashi Sakai-ku
Sakai City, Osaka Japan 〒590-0964
PNJ History