After a peaceful night at Wisterian Life Club Toba, where we were given rooms with gorgeous views of the ocean, we headed to Toba Port.
To add to our morning inspiration an inspiring article published on the Raku-Tai Shimpou newspaper today about our presentation on 30th October at the (Kyoto’s) Uji City's Hiramori Elementary School.
Caption photo 1: The 5th & 6th graders dynamically performed Dragon Dance.
Caption photo 2: Children read the message written on the certificate of appreciation.
A synopsis of this article (in English) is as follows:
The school welcomed Peace Run’s 14 international members on September 30. 20% of Hiramori Elementary’s students have roots outside Japan. Peace Run is a world-wide relay founded in 1987 by Indian-born peace advocate Sri Chinmoy. It carries the message: Peace begins with me, and has visited over 150 countries. It has come back to Kyoto after 7 years. The welcome program began with Ryuu-mai [Dragon dance] by the 5th & 6th graders. Harashita Sunaoshi of Peace Run Kyoto Office introduced their international activities to the students: “we may have different languages, different cultures, and we may look different, but we all want peace.” In the Peace Run program, there was a country-guessing game, where different runners gave fun hints, to which the students correctly answered their country names such as Australia, Switzerland and Kazakhstan. There was also an easy-to-understand skit about peace, followed by everyone holding the torch, presentation of the certificate of appreciation and hi-five. The Peace Run team then visited Okubo Elementary and Minori Nursery. The team will visit Mie, Aichi, Shizuoka prefectures before reaching their final destination Kamakura.
We are going to take Isewan ferry to cross Isewan Bay, over to Irago. We are saying goodbye to Mie Prefecture and enter Aichi Prefecture.
The hour-long ferry ride is refreshing and beautiful…a perfect little respite before starting the day’s program.
Our first stop is Iragomisaki Elementary School. The whole school, 106 students, welcomed us.
The school principal gave a heartfelt closing remark addressed to her students. She encouraged them to make the Peace Run motto: ‘Peace begins with me’ a living reality in their daily life. We were happy our program complemented their curriculum.
Team enjoying Japanese soba noodles for lunch.
We then visited Akabane Kodomo-en Nursery. Little children of 3 to 5 years old welcomed us enthusiastically.
How do you say ‘hello’ in India? How about in Indonesia? If you can say it correctly, you can get a stamp in your passport!
After a good stretch of running by both the men’s and women’s teams, we reached Hamamatsu City, one of the major cities in Shizuoka Prefecture.
We were invited into the City Hall, greeted by Mr. MATSUI Yoshikazu, Head of International Affairs Division, Hamamatsu City.
His words of welcome were at once welcoming, encouraging and educational. Hamamatsu is a diverse city with over 30,000 residents from 90 different countries.
Mr. Matsui taught us the traditional Hamamatsu mentality: ‘Just try and do it, never give up’ served as the backbone of these amazing successes. And he feels there is a lot in common between this mentality and what Peace Run has been doing. Thank you Mr. Matsui for your kindest and most inspiring words of encouragement.
Each member of the team received a gift of tenugui, a Japanese traditional towel made of thin cotton, as an iconic item of the city. Cotton industry was the very beginning of Hamamatsu City’s extraordinary development in manufacturing industry.
He believes the presence of Peace Run in the city will truly inspire the citizens from all walks of life.
We were also delighted with a radio talk show from the FM Uji 88.8 radio channel that talked about our presentation on 30th September (link). Here is a summary of the talk show in English: The Peace Run visited Uji City Okubo Elementary School on Sept 30. The school welcomed the team with colorful handmade arches. After the 40-minute “rich and deep” program, the Peace Run team offered their certificate of appreciation while the school presented each international member with a handmade paper gold medal. Afterwards, two representative students from the 6th grade [12 years old] were interviewed about their experiences. Q1: What’s your impression about the Peace Run? Student A: In order to run 400km for peace, they must have so much courage and strong will. Amazing. Student B: It’s incredible they can do that much for peace. Q2: Which words/activity left a lasting impression? SA: “Peace begins with me.” We can start peace in our daily life. SB: Finding peace within ourselves. Through that exercise, I felt I was able to feel peace within myself. Q3: Has your attitude toward English changed? SA&SB: Yes. Now I want to be able to use English to communicate with many people from different backgrounds. Q4: How was it to hold the Peace Torch? SA: It’s been held by so many people, and I felt it. I felt the weight of all those people’s wish for peace more than the actual weight of the torch. SB: I agree. People’s wish for peace has more weight than the physical weight of the torch. Through holding the Peace Torch, I felt so many people’s hopes for peace. School Principal Ms. Himeno was then interviewed.
Q1: How did you come to have the Peace Run team in your school today? At the monthly School Principals’ meeting, I received an invitation to take part.
Q2: How did you find today’s program? It was an invaluable experience for us. The Peace Run team had members across different countries and religions. It was as if having an Expo of our own. It has been 80 years since the end of WW2. Incidentally, our school just had a curriculum in which we encouraged our students and their families to think about peace in their daily life. This is totally aligned with the Peace Run’s message we heard today. First, we focus on peace within ourselves. The exercise they did about peace within each of us was very nice.
Q3: What do you hope from your students after today’s special class? I hope our students will become a person who can think of peace within themselves and around them first.
