19th General IPRA Conference
July 1-5, 2002 Kyung Hee University, in Suwon, South Korea
Peace Culture and Communications Commission
Creating a Culture of Peace at a Peace Museum
Kazuyo Yamane (Kochi University & Grassroots House)
Editor of Muse: Newsletter of Japanese Network of Museums for Peace
Address: 2-412 Yokohama New Town, Kochi City, Japan 781-0241
Tel: +81-088-837-2058. Fax: +81-088-837-2860
KyYamane@ma1.seikyou.ne.jp (One after ma)
Grassroots House: http://ha1.seikyou.ne.jp/home/Shigeo.Nishimori/
(Muse is available both in English and Japanese.)
A guidebook of Peace Museums Worldwide1 was published by the United Nations in
1995, which made it possible to get to know the existence of peace museums in the world.
What is the role of a peace museum? What about the situation of the International
Network of Peace Museums?
How about Japanese Network of Peace Museums?
What are the achievements of peace museums and problems to be solved?
These
questions will be answered from global and local point of view with an emphasis on
Grassroots House, a small peace museum in Kochi City in Japan where I’m in charge of
International Exchange Section.
It is encouraging that “Declaration and Program of Action on a Culture of Peace” was
adopted by the 53rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly in 1999. The
Program of Action was made to serve as the basis for the International Year for the
Culture of Peace (2000) and the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and
Nonviolence for the Children of the World (2001-2010). The Declaration defines the
culture of peace as a set of values, attitudes, traditions, modes of behavior and ways of
life based on respect for life, ending of violence and promotion and practice of
non-violence through education, dialogue and co-operation. That is commitment to
peaceful settlement of conflicts including environmental issues, promotion of the right
to development, equal rights for men and women, the rights of everyone to freedom of
expression and information, adherence to the principles of democracy, tolerance,
solidarity, and cultural diversity.
Since education at all levels is one of the principal means to create a culture of peace, it
is very important that the global campaign for peace education was launched at the
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Hague Appeal for Peace Conference in 1999. The question is how to create a culture of
peace on the local and international level in our troubled society.
There are various initiatives and instruments that have succeeded in promoting a
culture of peace. Education, media, art, dialogue and cooperation have played a great
role as the principal means to build a culture of peace. Peace education has played a
large part in creating a culture of peace at home, school, and community.
Peace
museums are good instruments for promoting peace education and creating a culture of
peace. Media can also be influential in creating a culture of peace. Art is a universal
and a good means of creating a culture of peace. Exchanges of information, dialogue
and cooperation seem to be indispensable to create a culture of peace on the local and
international level. The following examples show the possibility of creating a culture
of peace through peace museums both locally and globally.
I. International Network of Peace Museums
International exchanges have been active since the first International Conference of
Peace Museums was held at the University of Bradford in 1992. The International
Network of Peace Museums was formed then, and Newsletter has been edited by Dr.
Peter van den Dungen of the Department of Peace Studies at the University of Bradford
and published by Give Peace a Chance Trust. I started to introduce the newsletter in
Japanese and also edit Grassroots House newsletter in English twice a year in 1992.
Japanese Network of Museums for Peace was formed in 1998 when the third
International Conference of Peace Museums was held in Osaka International Peace
Center and Kyoto Museum for World Peace at Ritsumeikan University. Grassroots
House played a role of the head office and two kinds of newsletter were published until
2001. One is written in Japanese and it is about international news from the
International Network of Peace Museums and also news on Japanese museums for
peace. The other is news on Japanese museums for peace in English, which I edit
twice a year. Kyoto Museum for World Peace became the head office of the network in
2001. The amount of news is increasing, which shows that peace museums have been
active through exchanges of information and exhibits among nations.
This helps
create a culture of peace in the world. Peace Museums Worldwide edited by League of
Nations Archives, Geneva in Association with the Department of Peace Studies,
University of Bradford, is very informative and the latest news on peace museums is
available by Newsletter of International Network of Peace Museums.
As a part of 100th Anniversary of the Inauguration of the International Museum of War
and Peace in Luzerne, International Historical Symposium was held there in
Switzerland from June 6th to 8th of 2002. The museum was founded in 1902 by Jan
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Bloch, a Polish industrialist (1836-1902) and peace researcher. The purpose of the
museum was to prevent war in the future, but unfortunately it was closed because of
the outbreak of World War I. The mini-international conference was also held after the
symposium and what was suggested was to make the website of the International
Network of Peace Museums and also the use of the Internet so that information and
opinions will be exchanged more easily. The use of the information technology will
make a great difference in the international network of peace museums because the
newsletter will become available easily.
Newsletter of International Network of Peace Museums: Contact Dr. Peter van den
Dungen (The Department of Peace Studies, the University of Bradford: Bradford BD7
1DP, UK)
Fax: 44-1274-235240. p.vamdendungen@bradford.ac.uk
II. Japanese Network of Peace Museums
There is an organization of big peace museums called Association of Japanese Museums
for Peace (AJMP). It was founded in 1994 in order to exchange information and
opinions among the peace museums. There are nine museums in AJMP and most of
them are public: Kyoto Museum for World Peace (the only private peace museum),
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, Osaka International Peace Center, Kanagawa
Plaza for Global Citizenship, Kawasaki Peace Museum, Peace Museum of Saitama,
Takamatsu Civic Culture Center/Peace Memorial Museum, Nagasaki Atomic Bomb
Museum and Okinawa Prefecture Peace Memorial Museum. They meet once a year
and are planning to open their homepage in the future.
As for Japanese Network of Museums for Peace (JNMP) that was made in 1998, the
members are individuals who belong to peace museums from big to small scale and also
people who have been working hard to make a peace museum. The English newsletter
called Muse that I edit is the only newsletter in which news on Japanese peace
museums and peace museum projects are available in English. It is available at the
homepage of Grassroots House: http://ha1.seikyou.ne.jp/home/Shigeo.Nishimori/
Both AJMP and JNMP play an important role to exchange information and exhibits
among peace museums. However, peace museums in Japan started to face attacks by
right-wingers in the 1990s. For example, exhibits on Japan’s aggression during World
War II have been attacked by them, and it is getting hard to make such an exhibition at
public peace museums such as Osaka International Peace Center and Nagasaki Atomic
Bomb Museum. The following example shows the difference between public peace
museums and private ones.
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An exhibition of “The Japanese Occupation of the Dutch East Indies Remembered” was
held in Japan in 2001. The Dutch East Indies is formerly a colony of the Netherlands,
and Indonesia today, and its history has not been taught at school and reported in
media in Japan. In 2000 Japan and the Netherlands celebrated the 400 th anniversary
of their relations and various cultural, scientific, economic and sporting events were
organized. The Netherlands Institute for War Documentation made the exhibition to
convey the wartime experiences to promote mutual understanding. The exhibition
showed the experiences of the Dutch, the Japanese and Indonesian people during the
Japanese occupation. In March of 1942, Japan invaded the Dutch East Indies and
oppressed both the Dutch and Indonesians. According to the brochure of the exhibition,
over 300.000 Dutch people lived in the Dutch East Indies in 1942 and many of them
were interned in camps. Of the Dutch prisoners-of-war (42,000), 18,000 were forced to
work on the construction of the Burma-Siam railway. Military prisoners were also
used for the Pakan-Baru railway on Sumatra. Eight thousand prisoners-of –war were
transported to Japan. Some of them were forced to work in the mines. Many suffered
from the hard work, the lack of food and disease. As for the Indonesians, many men
were forced to work on the construction of new airports, roads and canals. Others were
conscripted into the Japanese army and many women were forced to work as sex slaves
for the Japanese military. In August of 1945, Japan surrendered and the Indonesians
declared independence. Dutch, Japanese and Indonesians had different experiences
during the war and have different memories today. These memories were focused on
using diaries, letters, photos, drawings and objects.
It was not easy to show it at public peace museums because it showed Japanese
aggressive side of the war and there would be strong attacks from the right wingers.
The reason why they attack the exhibits on Japan’s aggression is that they want to
glorify the war thinking that Japan liberated Asian countries from European
colonialism. When it was first introduced in public museums such as Hiroshima Peace
Memorial Museum, Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum, Osaka International Peace
Center and so forth, it was rejected. But a private peace museum such as Grassroots
House held the exhibition. As a whole, it was shown in Kyoto (Kyoto Museum for
World Peace at Ritsumeikan University), Usuki, Mizumaki, Nagasaki (Nagasaki Peace
Institute), Fukuoka (Physicians and Dentists for Prevention of Nuclear War), Tokyo
(Tokyou Foreign Language University) and Kochi (Grassroots House and Kochi Liberty
and People’s Rights Museum). The local governments that held the exhibition were
only Mizumaki and Usuki. Mizumaki town in Fukuoka Prefecture is where Dutch and
British prisoners of war were forced to work during World War Ⅱ. A Dutch former
prisoner of war visited there in 1985 and there have been exchanges between the Dutch
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and the Japanese. There is a tower with a cross in which the names of over 800 Dutch
prisoners of war are inscribed. It is said that “a coal company built it in a hurry being
afraid of the investigation of war criminals”2 after the war. As for Usuki City in Oita
Prefecture, it is the place where Dutch ship drifted ashore four centuries ago.
peace museums are all private, which shows
Other
characteristics of public peace museums
which tend to avoid controversial exhibits during the war. The rise of neo-nationalism in
the 1990s is related to Japan’s militarism that aims at protecting the interests of
Japanese multinational corporations.
It seems that there is more freedom of expression at a private peace museum like
Grassroots House than public peace museums. The biggest problem of private peace
museums, however, is financial.
III. Creating a Culture of Peace through Peace Education
A peace museum can play a great role in creating a culture of peace through peace
education in various fields. The following is some examples at Grassroots House.
1. Peace Education for Family, Especially for Children
Family members go there and get to know various issues of peace, environment, and
human rights. Then they start to think what to do in order to solve these problems.
For example, they went to a forest to plant nursery trees. Children drew a huge
picture remembering their experiences of planting nursery trees at Art Class for
Children that was held at Grassroots House. The picture was exhibited at Kochi Art
Museum, and it also became a traveling exhibit. It was exhibited at International
Museum of Peace and Solidarity, Samarkand in Uzbekistan. This is not only peace
education for family including children but also an act of creating a culture of peace in
the community and also between Japan and other countries.
On the other hand,
paintings by Uzbek children were sent to the Grassroots House, which contributed to
the international understanding. Art is a powerful means of creating a culture of
peace especially at an international level because it is universal.
2. Peace Education for School
Teachers take their children to Grassroots House so that they can see various articles
that were used during World War II.
Citizens bring such articles as old school
textbooks, conscription papers, a uniform of the army and so forth to Grassroots House.
Children learn what happened in the past watching these articles and listen to Mr.
Shigeo Nishimori, the director of Grassroots House, or various speakers who have war
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experiences. Such speakers were organized so that they can be sent to various schools
to talk about their war experiences and activities for peace. As some are getting old
and tend to pass away, old speakers are recorded in videotapes so that the tapes can be
used at school.
One of the example of sending lectures to school is related to an exhibition of “The
Japanese Occupation of the Dutch East Indies Remembered” that was held at Kochi
Liberty and People’s Rights Museum in 2001.
Dr. Erik Somers of Netherlands
Institute for War Documentation went to Kochi for the exhibition that was organized by
the Grassroots House. While he was in Kochi, he was asked to talk about peace issues
at an elementary school. Considering of the age of pupils, slides of Dutch children
including his son were shown. The importance of respecting different culture was
emphasized showing Dutch children of different culture. Japanese children enjoyed
knowing Dutch culture and their way of life. This is a very positive way of teaching
what peace is among children.
As for college students, Dr. Erik Somers gave a lecture on the Japanese occupation of
the Dutch East Indies at Kochi University using a CD-ROM on the exhibition. There
is a course called “Peace and Disarmament” that started in 1987 at Kochi University
and I am one of the lecturers. There are about 150 students from the Department of
Humanity, Science, Education and Agriculture. The theme of 2001 was “Peace in Asia
and Japan” and focused were the relation between China and Japan and also the one
between Korea and Japan. Mr. Nishimori, the director of the Grassroots House, gave
lectures on the past, the present and the future of the relation between Japan and
China. Many students were shocked to know Japan’s aggression of China because
historical facts were not taught at school. Mr. Kensaku Umebara, the president of the
Association of Recording Air Raids and Damages in Kochi, gave lectures on Japan’s
victim side of the war and the aggressive side, especially Japan’s aggression of Korea
and Koreans who were forced to go to Japan to work during the Second World War. Dr.
Erik Somers was the only foreign lecturer and students learned the history of Japanese
occupation of the Dutch East Indies for the first time.
As for their impression of Erik’s lecture at Kochi University on June 5th, 2001, it seems
that all the students didn’t know anything about the history of the Netherlands, Japan
and Indonesia. The following is from students’ impressions.
 Korea has been reported in media, but there is no information on the Netherlands
and Indonesia. I think that they should be reported more in Japan.
 The previous lectures were mainly on Japan’s position in China and Korea. Erik’s
lecture was very interesting because it had broader content. I think that we should
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remember mistakes in the past, and it is necessary to promote international
exchanges with other countries in Asia and the world.
 It is regrettable that some Dutch have bad feelings toward the Japanese. I think
that more exchanges and mutual understanding are necessary.
 I had only known the good relation between Japan and the Netherlands, so I was
shocked to know the bad relation during the war.
 It was really great to learn peace from Erik because his viewpoint is very different
from Japanese one.
 I think that such a lecture and the exhibition are very worthy.
 I think that Japan should solve problems related to the war. What is necessary is
that the Japanese should know what Japan did in the past. The Japanese have not
been taught the real past in education. If we are educated well and understand the
past, I think that we will start trying to solve the problems.
Thus students learned Japanese history from a Dutch viewpoint. Some even went to
see the exhibition, which helped them understand the history more. The Grassroots
House that introduces lecturers to schools and universities has been playing an
important role as a peace education centre for children and students as well as young
teachers who have no experiences of war.
Various teaching materials are published as Grassroots House booklets.
Several
booklets on Japan’ aggression were written by Grassroots House members who went on
a peace trip to China and investigated what damages soldiers from Kochi caused to
Chinese people.
Children,3
A booklet on Japanese American history, For the Sake of the
was also published when an exhibit called “For the Sake of the Children”
was exhibited at Grassroots House, Kochi Art Museum and some other places in Tokyo.
It is about Japanese American history in Bainbridge Island of the State of Washington,
the United States. This booklet became important all the more especially after the
September 11th event of 2001. It is because what had happened to Japanese Americans
during World War II happened to Arabian Americans after the event in 2001: Japanese
Americans were put into ten concentration camps during the war while Arabian
Americans were arrested and detained just because they are Arabic.
Americans
should have learned the lessons from the exhibition of “For the Sake of the Children”
that emphasized the importance of justice and respecting different culture. Another
important subject is peace history such as pacifists that is not taught at school, and they
are introduced in Grassroots House booklets.
These booklets are used as teaching materials for peace education, and many students
of Kochi University tend to be surprised to know Japan’s aggression during the war and
also the fact that Japanese Americans were put into ten concentration camps in the
United States during the war. The booklets make them think what happened in the
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past and what should be done in the future.
3. Peace Education for Community
Grassroots House is a community based peace museum, and it is a place where people of
various NGO groups get together. Peace groups, environmental groups, human rights
groups, women groups, artists and so forth have various activities such as art exhibition,
lectures, meetings, concerts, plays and movies. People in the community enjoy these
activities, especially folding paper cranes. About 100,000 citizens from children to
senior citizens fold one million paper cranes every summer so that they are decorated
downtown which was air-raided by the U.S. bombers during World War II. This is the
occasion when people think of the past, the present and the future in the community.
These activities are good means for peace education and also creating a culture of peace
in the community.
IV. Creating a Culture of Peace through Art
Grassroots House is a center of creating a culture of peace in Kochi. Not only artists
but also ordinary citizens get involved with Peace Concert, Peace Art Exhibition, Peace
Drama, Peace Film Festival, Peace March and so forth every summer. “Think globally
and act locally” has been practiced for almost two decades in Kochi Prefecture.
Recent activity for peace through art is a peace concert especially by young musicians.
When the U.S.A. started attacking Afghanistan, young musicians started to hold a
peace concert that was organized by Ms. Keiko Tamaki, the vice director of Grassroots
House. It was held four times at a place where many people go such as a park and a
department store. There were not only Japanese young people but also Chinese and
Korean young people, which made the peace concert more interesting. Some photos of
musicians were made into a postcard and it is sold to make the fund to help the people
of Afghanistan.
V. Reconciliation
In the Declaration and Program of Action on a Culture of Peace, dialogue and
cooperation are regarded as good means to create a culture of peace. How about the
actual dialogue and international cooperation to create a culture of peace between Kochi,
Japan and other countries? Several trips to China contributed to creating a culture of
peace between Japan and China. It was not easy for members of Grassroots House to
face Japan’s aggression to China, especially to know what soldiers from Kochi did
during World War II. Chinese people’s hate was obvious first, but it became possible to
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be reconciled by listening to the Chinese to know historical facts and supporting their
demand of Japan’s apology and compensation for damages done during the war.
As for creating a culture of peace between Kochi, Japan and Korea, high school students
played a great role. First they investigated Koreans who were forced to work in Kochi
during the war. Then they became friends with Korean high school students living in
Japan. Furthermore they went to South Korea to know what happened to Korean
women who were forced to work as sex slaves for the Japanese military during the war.
They also made friends with young people in Korea. Such activities were made into a
book and also a film called “Watari-gawa”, and they can be used as teaching materials
for peace education and also creating a culture of peace. High school students will
have the 17th Peace Festival in 2002 as a part of an annual peace activities called “Peace
Wave” organized by Grassroots House. They will go downtown on June 30th and talk
with citizens about the danger of the emergency bill that would restrict human rights.
How about creating a culture of peace between Japan and the United States? Many
Japanese were shocked when photo panels on atomic bomb victims were not exhibited
at the Smithsonian Institute in 1995.
However, photo panels were sent from
Grassroots House to Swords Into Plowshares Peace Center and Gallery in Detroit.
Paper cranes folded by members of Grassroots House were also sent as a symbol of
people’s wish for peace.
Such grass-roots exchanges by a small peace museum
contributed to creating a culture of peace between Japan and the United States. It is
possible for a small peace museum to play a great role in creating a culture of peace
both locally and internationally.
VI. Conclusion
A peace museum is one of the good means to promote a culture of peace through peace
education, art, dialogue and cooperation. A peace museum plays an important role in
peace education at home, school and a community. Art is universal and it can be used
as a traveling exhibit in the world. A peace museum can also play a role in conflict
resolution and reconciliation among opposite parties.
The International Network of Peace Museums and Japanese Network of Museums for
Peace make it possible to exchange information, ideas and exhibits for creating a
culture of peace. The present situation of these networks is still the beginning and it is
necessary to strengthen them in order to make them more influential on many people.
In Japan, it is not easy to exhibit Japan’s aggression at public peace museums because
the right wingers tend to attack them. However, well-balanced exhibitions for peace at
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private peace museums should not be forgotten. Furthermore, it is encouraging that
there have been peace museum projects at grassroots level.
The Declaration and Program of Action on a Culture of Peace says, “A culture of peace
could be promoted through sharing of information among actors on their initiatives in
this regard.”
Indeed it is very important to make international exchanges of
information on efforts for peace among nations in order to create a culture of peace. It
is easy to lose hope and get apathetic at the present situation where violent culture is
dominant. However, we would not lose hope if we keep in touch with people who have
the same concern for more peaceful future and have the sense of solidarity.
It would be nice to have international cooperation among the IPRA, International
Network of Peace Museums and the IFLAC (International Forum of Literature and
Culture for Peace).
It is possible to create a culture of peace both locally and
internationally if we exchange information and opinions using the Internet and
correspond with one another for more peaceful world.
League of Nations Archives, Geneva in Association with the Department of Peace
Studies, University of Bradford. (1998) Peace Museums Worldwide. Geneva: United
Nations Publications on Peace.
1
Nakao, Tomoyo. “Taiwa wa Tsuzuku: Oranda Sensouten o Megutte”(The Dialogue
continues over the Dutch War Exhibition) in Sekai (World), August, 2001, p.225.
2
3
The Bainbridge Island Japanese American Community. For the Sake of the
Children. Trans. Kazuyo Yamane and Kyunosuke Yamane. (Kochi: Grassroots House,
1998)
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