International Youth Conference for Peace in the Future Part2
2015年09年15日 | diary
Hello, everybody. We’ll talk more about the International Youth Conference for Peace in the Future in this second blog. we describe the Opening Ceremony, Peace Memorial Ceremony, Koinobori movement.
○Opening Ceremony
The Opening ceremony of IYCPF was held for 4 hours at the International Conference Center Hiroshima. Mr. Kazumi Matsui, Mayor of Hiroshima city, and mayors of Hannover city and Volgograd city, Hiroshima’s sister cities, made speeches. Then, each city flag was given to Dr. Koki Inai who was chairperson of this conference.
One person from Hiroshima and one person from each sister city read a poem in their mother languages. There were six pairs and poems. All of their readings were very impressive and unforgettable.
Then, participants from Iran, Thailand, Malawi, Poland, and so on, made presentations about their country using powerpoint. As they were very easy to understand, we were able to learn about the peace movement and hear their opinions.
Then, we all sang “ We are the World.” As we practiced it, we could sing with a sense of unity.
Member’s impressives
Leelaruangsang Patcharaporn (Thailand)
I LOVE how you guys were the ones preparing and organizing things by yourselves, for instance, being the MC, I also love those traditional music instruments you guys prepared before, during, and after the ceremony, especially the drum show ! I literally got goosebumps from how amazing it was. The program content like getting kids to read poems and getting IYCPF members to read poems was awesome too. However, I thought the opening ceremony was a bit too long though over all it was ok.
Li Binyan (China)
It is a great honor for me to have a poem “My father” to read on behalf of the Chinese.In the afternoon a few foreign guests sat on the first row of seats,and then began to encourage the Japanese show which was similar to China Ansai waist drum…And then,a few Japanese junior high school students read the declaration of peace,and the four of us from Chongqing accepted the declaration of peace. On stage I was very nervous reading the poem and my hand kept trembling, but I’m still confident I read it well.
Yuri Amakawa (Japan)
First I was a little bit worried because I didn’t understand how to read the poem about the atomic bomb. Through practicing it, I could think of the cruelty of the atomic bomb from another perspective. A Chinese girl read the same poem in her mother tongue with feeling. I think all of us there could share the same thoughts even though we couldn’t understand what they were saying.
Ali Shokoohi (Iran)
Very interesting and well organized.
○70th Peace Memorial Ceremony
Non-Japanese members of the Conference took part in the outside ceremony. We asked them : what did you think about the ceremony?
Ivan Toftul (Russia)
Hiroshima peace memorial ceremony is a very unique experience. Everything is very meaningful in that ceremony. Most people are taught about the horrors of wars and most people fortunately haven’t experienced war. It is very hard to understand and to realize everything.
After the ceremony, one thought came to my mind: just try to imagine WHAT happened.A lot of people have been gathering in this memorable place every year for. We have to respect history and not forget what has happened.
Piseth Sorn (Cambodia)
I first thanked everyone for all the preparings put into helping all join this event. This event gives a chance for people who passed away. It also reminds us of all the suffering of those people. It shows the world the disadvantages of nuclear weapons. Tell the world we should stop making nuclear weapons and stop using them.
○Koinobori movement
Koinobori means carp streamer. Carp is the fish which is connected with Hiroshima, such as Hiroshima Carp, the baseball team, and Hiroshima castle called Carp Castle. We collected signatures for peace. A person who wants world peace signs a paper shaped scale, and we stick it on a Carp streamer. Then members of this conference will take it back to their own cities and continue to do this in their country. By doing this around the world, participants can have both a greater sense of peace and can spread peace around the world.
↑They did it on 6th August.
Sovandeka Sum
It was fun under the sun, but it was worth doing it. Time was limited so we had to run back and forth in order to get as many signatures as possible. Loving peace is easy, we can just express it by signing on the carp, Koinobori. My group managed to get around 20+ signatures from different nationalities, I think it is one of the good activities during the program, and I like it a lot.
Next, we’ll introduce tea ceremony and visiting two high school.
Please look forward to our blog being updated.
