This thesis is dedicated to...
People who wish to bring true peace to this world,
The Japanese people, who have created and possess such a great culture,
All living things.
We are all one.
Mari Katsui
Can Japanese Culture Contribute to Sustainability for Peace? A Case Study on Ikenobo
Background of This Study
On September 11, 2001, I was in Tokyo, working as a guide for a Tanzanian diplomat.
That evening, while watching on television the shocking news of the terrorist attacks in the United States, I thought, “No, no, something is terribly wrong.
This kind of thing should not happen.”
Since 1989 I had been working as a government-licensed English guide, and I believed that I had been contributing to world peace in some way.
As a typical Japanese, I often hesitated to voice my political opinions for fear of damaging smooth and harmonious relations with others, but 9/11 made me change.
I decided to contribute to real peace by voicing my opinions and taking actions.
Although I grew up in the countryside of Japan in the 1960s and 70s, luckily my father subscribed the English magazine, Life.
Even though I was still a small child, when I saw in the pages of Life actual pictures from the Vietnam War, I had a strange feeling: “At this very moment, in Vietnam, many people are being killed by bombs.”
These images made a deep impression in my mind, and I also thought: “In Japan the same thing happened just 25 years ago.” Back then a lot of people still had memories
of their experiences during World War II, and when they told their stories I felt that war is something that we should never have again.
I traveled a long road from those days until I arrived at University for Peace.
I am glad to have the opportunity to submit this thesis.
I hope that, as a Japanese, I can contribute to the achievement of true world peace.
All of us are travelers, traveling the path called “learning” throughout our lives.
All of the experience we have in this life is a form “learning.”
We are all musicians in the orchestra named World Peace.
Each of us has a different mission to perform, each of us has a part to play in creating the most beautiful and peaceful harmony in a world
of peace.
Thank you very much from the bottom of my heart.
心から感謝を込めて。
to be continued...
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