On September 16, the 54th anniversary of ARI’s founding, a commemorative service was held at ARI. Following a program featuring stories from the early days by Mrs. Shinko Takami, a wife of one of the founders, Toshihiro Takami, the ARI Peace Declaration was presented by our director, Osamu Arakawa.
After lunch, we held a community event at a nearby park, where we divided ourselves into groups to express peace through music, poetry, dance, and drama. To deepen mutual understanding and our friendships, we also enjoyed playing games together.
The Asian Rural Institute Peace Declaration was drafted based on the joint resolution and declaration on peace presented at the 2007 symposium themed “Peace from the Soil.” It incorporates the views of this year’s community members and reflects recent global circumstances. The declaration clarifies ARI’s stance on war responsibility by adding perspectives on “Peace from the Soil”—one of the Institute’s core themes—and responsibilities regarding nuclear weapons.
For ARI, which annually accepts participants from areas invaded by Japan during World War II, war responsibility is a theme from which we cannot escape with any reasons.
25 years ago, Osamu got a big shock by the words of an Indonesian participant. While visiting the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum with participants, he told to an atomic bomb survivor, “Because the atomic bombs were dropped, my country was saved.” These words came from the memory of a family deeply scarred by the Japanese invasion. For that participant, the war’s end meant the restoration of life and dignity.
Justifying the atomic bombings is never permissible, yet we must never forget the tragedies experienced by all sides nor the historical truth. Therefore, we believe it is of great significance for ARI, where members from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds gather, to clarify its approach to confronting the history of war.
Arakawa says;
“I wish to oppose war itself from the standpoint of protecting life and dignity, against the prevailing atmosphere of war and arguments justifying nuclear deterrence. Peace is not merely the absence of conflict; we must face each other’s differences and pain, and build relationships with sincerity. I believe this attitude is the basis for a society where may we live together.”
Read the ARI Peace Declaration — On the 80th Anniversary of the End of World War II : https://ari.ac.jp/en/asian-rural-institute-peace-declaration/
