Muse no.1
Japanese Network of Museums for Peace
Newsletter: July, 1999
The editorial office: Ｇｒａｓｓrｏｏｔｓ Ｈｏｕｓｅ
Curator: Shigeo NishimoriInternational Exchange Section: Kazuyo Yamane
9-11 Masugata, Kochi City，Kochi Pref. Japan 780-0861
Tel: +81-0888-75-1275. Fax: +81-0888-21-0586
E-mail: GRH@ma1.seikyou.ne.jp (one after ma)
http://ha1.seikyou.ne.jp/home/Shigeo.Nishimori/ (one after ha)

The First Newsletter of Japanese Network of Museums for Peace: “Muse”
It was decided to create Japanese Network of Museums for Peace (JNMP) at the third
International Conference of Peace Museums held in Osaka and Kyoto last November. The
newsletter is edited by Kazuyo Yamane and is published by Grassroots House, and readers will
receive this newsletter instead of Grassroots House Newsletter that has been published twice ayear in English. This means that you will get more news on peace museums in Japan. The
newsletter was named “Muse” because it is too long to say “newsletter of Japanese Network ofMuseums for Peace”. We hope you will enjoy reading this and various activities for peace will
be promoted more in the future.
The first newsletter of JNMP in Japanese was published by Grassroots House in April. The
contents are “Possible Concepts of Peace Museums and Related Institutions” by Dr. UrsulaMaria Ruser in Peace Museums Worldwide, United Nations Publications on Peace, a letter by
Mr. Tommy Spree, the director of Anti-Kriegs Museum in Germany, several museums in Iran by
Dr. Terry Duffy and so forth. Oka Masaharu Memorial Peace Museum in Nagasaki and
Association of Friends for Peace in Kyoto were introduced in the newsletter.

The Hague Peace Conference
About 400 Japanese participated in the Hague Peace Conference, and several members of peacemuseums attended there such as Prof. Ikuro Anzai and Prof. Atsushi Fujioka from Kyoto
Museum for World Peace, and Yuhei Nishimori, Takako Yoshikawa and Kazuyo Yamane from
Grassroots House. It was really nice to see members of International Network of Peace
Museums again. We really enjoyed visiting several peace museums such as The Museum in
the Ijzer Tower and “In Flanders Fields” Museum in Belgium, Yi Jun Peace Museum andpeace museum in Peace Palace in the Hague, and learned many things there.
It was certainly nice that the article 9 of Japanese Constitution which
renounces war was included in the ten fundamental principles for a justworld order in the Hague Appeal agenda as “Every Parliament should
adopt a resolution prohibiting their government from going to war, likethe Japanese article number nine.”

1However, reality in Japan is far from such an ideal because the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty wasstrengthened following the enactment of the laws based on the “Guidelines for U.S-Japan Defense
Cooperation”, and there is a danger that Japan may be involved with war started by U.S. Mr.
Nishimori analizes that one of the reasons why Japanese government follows the U.S. policy isthat the past has not been reflected on enough by the Japanese, and facts on Japan’s aggression
during World WarⅡhave not been taught in history class at school enough. Showa Museum
was opened in March, 1999 in Tokyo, but real history, especially Japan’s aggression during
World War II, has not been exhibited in this national museum. Private peace museums havebeen noted because it is possible to exhibit what public museums can’t. Peace museums havebeen introduced in Weekly Friday that deals with various issues on peace, the Constitution,
human rights, environmental protection, welfare and culture.

A Book on the Third International Conference of Peace Museums
A book of Exhibiting Peace: The Proceeding of the Third International Conference of Peace
Museums was published by Organizing Committee of the conference in July. If you’d like to
get the Japanese version, please contact Kyoto Museum for World Peace, Ritsumeikan University,
Kyoto, Japan 603-8577. If you’d like to get the English one, please contact Osaka International
Peace Center, 2-1 Osaka Castle, Chuou-ku, Osaka City, Japan 540-0002. There were so many
meetings that it was impossible to attend them all last November. But it is possible to read all
papers in the book thanks to the organizing committee members.

International Congress on Conflict Resolution Through Culture and Literature
It was held in Shavei Zion in Israel by International Friends of Literature and Culture on June 2930. There were about 250 participants including ones from Mexico, Brazil, India, France,
Denmark, Rumania, the United States, Japan and so forth. It was really great to meet writers
and poets such as Alan Sillitoe from London and Dr. Ada Aharoni, who is also the President of
Writers International and Friends of Literature and Culture Association (WIFLAC).
WIFLAC was created at the conference, and various presidents and directors of chapters were
elected. Kazuyo Yamane was elected as the president of Japan chapter, and Kyunosuke, herhusband, was elected as the director, which doesn’t necessarily reflect on reality at home. Peace
culture including peace literature will be exchanged by translating various works in the future.
Peace museum has been playing a great role as a center of creating peace culture, and it would bereally nice to cooperate with WIFLAC in order to promote peace culture, for the year 2000 is ayear of a Culture of Peace.

Network News
Peace Wave in Kochi
Thirteen events for peace started in June and will last until the end of August. As High SchoolStudents’ Peace Festival, students prepared a huge panel of ten meters, and young people
enjoyed writing their peace messages downtown, Kochi City. At Peace Star Festival one
million paper cranes were folded by citizens and decorated downtown, which spread to Okayama
and Osaka: about 300,000 paper cranes were folded in Osaka and about 70,000 cranes were
folded in Izumi City, Osaka, and were decorated downtown. Peace Concert was held and many
children attended it. Panels on Japan’s aggression in Papua New Guinea and Australia were
exhibited at Kochi Municipal Library by Grassroots House members. More than 150,0002Japanese soldiers were sent to Papua New Guinea during World War II, and only 1,0000
survived mainly because of starvation. Pictures drawn by E.H.van der Linde were also
exhibited thanks to Dr. Robert Aspeslagh, the Neatherland. Peace Art Exhibition was the bestin terms of quality and quantity this year. The theme is environmental issues, and works by highschool students were also exhibited. Children’s art works from Japan, China and Uzbekistan
were exhibited. At Forum for the Solidarity with Asian People, a Chinese student, a student
from Okinawa and a student who was born and raised in China were the panelists as well as Mr.
Nishimori and Kazuyo. The theme was “Asia in the 21st Century”, and it was very interesting tohave discussions with young people because they are the ones who create the 21st century.
There are also Peace Theater, Peace Film Festival, Peace March, Photo Exhibition of Atomic
Bomb Victims in Kochi. There will be Mini Concert on August 21. The relation between
music and mental health will be considered listening to “biomusic”. Dr. Toshio Kishimoto andother musicians will visit the House of Sharing in South Korea that is for Korean women who
were forced to work as sex slaves during the war.

Hiroshima: International City for Peace Culture
Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba became the president of Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation according
to the newsletter Peace Culture in Japanese (no. 132, March, 1999). In February, people
including students from Hiroshima, Okinawa, South Korea, China and Taiwan attended“Hiroshima & Okinawa Peace Campus”. They learned reality of war and the horror of atomic
bombs, and also history of Asia. They discussed their role to play to realize the peaceful world.
It was pointed out that “young people will act when they get to know what to do and have an
opportunity to act. Mutual understanding is important, and such exchanges would deepen it.”
The first exhibition on Atomic Bombs was held in Pakistan in December, 1998. Though it was
only three days, about 1000 people came and were very shocked by misery of atomic bomb
victims in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The newsletter also reports on subcritical nuclear tests byEmeritus Professor Masayuki Nagasaki of Rikkyou University. He criticizes the danger ofsubcritical nuclar tests and Japanese government’s support of the US nuclear policy.
Peace Culture no. 133 published in June is also full of interesting articles such as International
Symposium on Hiroshima as a symbol of peace and hope. It is available in the following
address.
Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation: 1-2 Nakajima-cho, Naka-ku, Hiroshima City 730-0811
Tel: +81-082-241-5246, Fax: +81-82-242-7792
E-mail: hpcf@pcf.city.hiroshima.jp

Preserving War Remains for Peace
The movement to preserve war remains has been active, and the third National Conference for
Preserving War Remains will be held in Kyoto on August 4-6.
Kochi Network of Preserving War Remains was formed last August, and we are planning toinvestigate and study such places and make a guidebook on war remains in Kochi in the future.

Holocaust Centers in Hiroshima and TokyoJapanese Children Forum on the Holocaust will be held in July and August3

in various places such as Fukuyama, Okayama, Kyoto and Tokyo. One will
be held by Holocaust Education Center in Fukuyama City, Hiroshima on
July 29. Newsletter called “Small Hands” is published in Japanese, and Newsletter in English isalso available.
The address is: 866 Nakatsuhara, Miyuki-cho, Fukuyama City, Hiroshima 720-0004
Tel. & fax: 0849-55-8001
http://www.urban.ne.jp/home/hecjpn
E-mail: hecjpn@urban.ne.jp

Tokyo Holocaust Education Resource Center was opened last October, and the newsletter inJapanese was published in April. The Japanese Children Forum will be held in Tokyo on
August 8. There is the homepage in Japanese and it is possible to link to holocaust museums in
Israel, Britain, the Netherlands, Germany and the USA.
28-105 Daikyou-cho, Shinjuku-ku Tokyo 160-0015
E-mail: Holocaust@Tokyo.email.ne.jp
http://www.ne.jp/asahi/holocaust/tokyo

For Nuclear Free Japan“Hiroshima and Nagasaki Citizens’ Meeting Newsletter for Abolition of Nuclear Weapons No.
1” was published in March. It reports on a proposal by the Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Citizen’s Meeting demanding the abolition of nuclear weapons to Tokyo Forum for Nuclear
Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, an international experts’ forum initiated by Japanese
government after nuclear tests by India and Pakistan last year. The proposal is titled as“Establish steps toward abolishing nuclear weapons while seeking non-proliferation anddisarmament!” The proposal is available in English, and the following is the address to contact.
Professor Mitsuo Okamoto: c/o Hiroshima Shudou University, 1-1-1 Otsuka Higashi, Asa
Minami-ku, Hiroshima City 731-3195
In Kochi, there has been a movement to enact a law to make Kochi ports nuclear free, and it has
been oppressed by the Japanese government. A booklet called Nuclear Free Japan was
published by Grassroots House in May. It is a collection of various messages of prominent
figures in Japan that support our movement to make Kochi nuclear free. It has been used atpeace studies class at Kochi University by Mr. Shigeo Nishimori, and also has encouraged many
people of other places to make them nuclear free in Japan. How was it made? Mr. Nishimori
sent a letter with a return postcard to prominent figures, and those who support our movement
sent them back with short messages. Thus the pamphlet was made, and people are interested inreading them because famous actors and actresses also give us peace messages!

A Booklet on Germ War in China
Grassroots House booklet No. 9 called Germ War was Waged in China was published in July.
It is about the sixth peace trip to China held in 1998. We have been trying to make clear realityof Japan’s aggression and also national responsibility for the war.
There was a rally of the tenth anniversary of Tienanmen Square by Grassroots
House and Japan-China Friendship Association, and we learned the importanceof learning Chinese history and protecting human rights.

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Related News: Supporting Chinese Victims in their Trial in Japan
There have been suits for compensation to the Chinese war victims of the 731
Unit, the Nanjing Incident, and the indiscriminate bombing on China. We have been collectedsignatures to support them from all over the world, and also have asked prominent peace
researchers and scholars to send a letter supporting them to the Japanese Court. If you are ofopinion that you urge the court to order the Japanese government to formally apologize for pastwrong-doings and to compensate the plaintiffs for damages, we’d appreciate it if you’d send a
letter to Mr. Kou Ito, the Honorable Chief Justice, 24th Civil Division of Tokyo District Court,
Japan by the end of August. If you send your letter to the following address, it will be translated
into Japanese, and will be presented to the Court by the Association.
Association to Support the Demands of Chinese War Victims: 170-0005 Rabas Bldg. 6F, 2-3310 Minami-Ohtuka, Toshima-ku, Tokyo. Fax: +81-3-3942-8593.
E-mail: suopei@tky.3web.ne.jp

Japanese Flag and Anthem: War Culture instead of Peace Culture?
Do you know that the “Hinomaru” flag and the song “Kimigayo” don’t have legal basis? A billto legalize them was railroaded at the House of Representatives on July 23 though 66 % of thepeople were against it according to Asahi Newspaper. They are regarded by Asian countries,
particularly China, North Korea and South Korea, as symbolizing Japan’s aggression, which is amajor reason for their great dislike of them.
The song was composed in 1880 at the request of the Naval Ministry. It was regarded in the
prewar period as the national anthem because it was mandatory to sing it at ceremonies inprimary schools since 1900. The lyrics glorify the emperor reign over Japan, which isincompatible with the present Constitution that provides for the people to be the sovereign power.
The flag has a longer history, but the Meiji Cabinet decided to use it for the Army and the Navy.
During the Pacific War it was used as a symbol of Japan’s war of aggression, and for this reason
it is still very disliked by many people, with no national consensus on its use. Germany and
Italy don’t have the national flags they used in WWII as their present national flags.
The flag and the song in Japan are not peace culture but war culture. Various historicalmaterials such as magazines published during the war and the flags used during the war are
exhibited at Grassroots House so that people may be able to think them over.

(Cf.)

Companion Flag: the Flag for Peace and Harmony

Scott Wyatt in Seattle is active for the Companion Flag which is a symbol representing theessential identity of all human beings. It stands for everything that is done, held, known, or
experienced in common by human beings, notwithstanding their differences. The Companion
Flag is meant to be displayed throughout the world with the flags of every nation, state, province,
city, club, organization, etc. Why is the flag white? The details are in the following homepage.
www.companionflag.org (10115 Greenwood Ave. N., #142 Seattle, WA 8133 USA)

Oka Masaharu Memorial, Nagasaki

5It was founded in 1995 by private citizens, and the director is Yasunori
Takazane. The museum was established to bring Japanese aggression
to light by exhibiting historical facts and to keep alive the legacy of Rev.
Oka Masaharu who devoted his life to calling Japan to account.
The content of the museum is Japan’s aggression in the Asian-Pacific region, Korean slavelabourers, Korean Atomic-Bomb survivors. Activities are lectures, meetings, films and Hangulclass, and newsletter is published in Japanese. The number of visiting secondary school
students is increasing, and exchanges using a computer are getting popular.
9-14 Nishizakacho, Nagasaki City. Tel & fax: +81-958-20-5600

Association of Friends for Peace, Kyoto
Exhibition of War in Kyoto was held since 1981, and Kyoto Museum for World Peace,
Ritsumeikan University, was founded in 1992. Association of Friends for Peace (the English
name is still provisional) was founded in 1993, and more than 150 volunteers have been active forpeace such as being a guide at the peace museum. They get together once a month, andnewsletter no. 63 was published in April. They visited Matsushiro, Nagano, Maizuru, East Fuji,
Okinawa and Hiroshima with Prof. Ikuro Anzai, who is the director of the peace museum andalso an adviser to the association.
Contact: Heiwa Tomo no Kai (Association of Friends for Peace). c/o Ritsumeikan University
Kyoushokuin-kai 56 Kitamachi, Tojiin, Kita-ku, Kyoto City 603-8577

Constitution Forest spreading in Japan4650 nursery trees have been planted at a forest in Kochi by Grassroots House members since
1995, and the forest is called “Constitution Forest”. It is a symbol of our wish for peace and aclean environment, and was named after Article 9. It has been spreading to Matsushiro, Nagano,and Kuroson, the source of the Shimanto River in Kochi Prefecture. We have a dream that theConstitution forest will spread more in Japan.

Kid’s Center for Peace and Human Rights, Osaka
According to Newsletter of Grassroots no.8, Asian school textbooks were exhibited at Osaka
International Peace Center in January and March. There are many materials for such exhibition
at Kid’s Center for Peace and Human Rights in Sakai City, Osaka. Fifth graders and juniorhigh school students visited the center, and learned true history such as forced laborers from
China to Japan during World War II. The background is that facts on Japan’s aggression tend
to be hidden in Japanese school textbooks.
Address: Ms Kazuko Yoshioka c/o Heiwa Jinken Kodomo Center
1-9-3 Kouryou Nishimachi, Sakai City, Osaka590-0026

Activities to Make Peace Museum in Matsushiro, Nagano
The imperial Headquarters consist of underground shelter and a hospital which were made in
Matsushiro, Nagano City in order to move the emperor, the army and the government, andprotect them during World War II. The huge tunnel is over ten kilometers and more than 6,000
Koreans were forced to work there during the war. The movement to preserve the headquarters
started in 1985 with high school students who were moved by visiting Okinawa shelter.
Association to Preserve Matsushiro Headquarters was founded in 1986, and more than 810,000

6people visited there not only from other places in Japan but also from various countries. It isgreat that high school students are guides at the shelter. They have been working hard to make apeace museum and rented ground in 1994. They have been publishing newsletter, andnewsletter no. 103 was published in July! Professor Hirofumi Hayashi of Kantou Gakuin
University gave a lecture on Japan’s occupation of Asian countries and sex slaves in July.
Address: Matsushiro Daihon-eio Susumeru-kai (Association to Preserve Matsushiro
heasquarters) c/o Kibou no Ie, 569-4, Wakasato, Nagano City 380-0923 Japan

Pacifists in Japan: Bookmarks with Pacifists’ Words from Kochi
Anti-war activists and pacifists have been introduced at Grassroots House newsletter, and now
we’d like to introduce pacifists not only from Kochi but also from other places in Japan in the
future. Bookmarks called “A Guide to Freedom, Peace and Friendship” were made by
Grassroots House, and they have been very popular. It is possible to know twenty-two
pacifists’ words which were translated into English by Kazuyo Yamane and Craig Delaney.
Instead of introducing one Japanese pacifist, we’d like to show some examples from thebookmarks this time.
“Storms make trees strong” by Teru Takakura (1891-1986)“What can be relied upon is public opinion; what should be overthrown is cruel and unjust
government” by Tatsui Baba (1850-1888) in “Political Situation in Japan” in 1888.

“Since a woman does not have the same rights as a man, it is hard to pay the same tax as
a man. That is, if women have equal rights with men, they will be able to pay taxes as
men do. Since I paid taxes, there should be no difference between my rights, as awoman, and the rights men have. I’d like to see a tax system that is fair and easy tounderstand for all the people, regardless of sex” by Kita Kusunose (1836-1920) in “A
Petition on Tax Payments” (1878). Please notice that women’s suffrage was realized in1880 in Kochi, which is quite early in history.
You’ll also enjoy beautiful woodcuts by members of Kochi Association of Printmakers inthe bookmarks. You can see some of them in this newsletter. If you’d like to getthem, please let us know. We’ll send them free overseas.
Karim Reyes Passed Away
An excellent graduate student of Kochi University from Mexico was drowned in the Shimanto
River while he was swimming. He was in charge of making Grassroots House homepage as avolunteer. We miss him very much and pray for the repose of his soul.

Publications
Kate Dewes and Robert Green, Aotearoa / New Zealand At The World Court (The Raven Press,
Christchurch, 1999). The ex-Prime Minister David Lange wrote, “This publication is a recordof the passion felt by a peaceful people who trusted in the rule of law and the eventual triumph ofreason. It is a tale of commitment by ordinary people who persuaded governments of bothmajor political parties to pursue the cause before the World Court. It should

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give us hope.” This book can be used as a good teaching material for peaceeducation not only at school but also at peace museums.
Keisuke Okamura, Hibakusha in Kochi – Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Bikini(Association of Recording Hibakusha in Kochi, Kochi, 1999). The book consists of photos of
victims of the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and also victims of hydrogen bomb test
on Bikini Atoll in 1954. The photos will be exhibited at Kochi Art Museum in August.

Newsletters (Please notice that they are written in Japanese.)
Mitsuo Okamoto, “Association of Article 9 in Hiroshima” Newsletter no. 23 (c/o Hiroshima
YWCA: 4-3-10 Ote-cho, Naka-ku, Hiroshima City, July 1999). It is full of lively news on theHague peace conference, peace walk from the Hague to Brussels, movement against the
Hinomaru flag and the Kimigayo song and so forth.
Nagasaki Peace Research Institute, Newsletter of the Nagasaki Peace Institute no.9 (25-5
Mezame-cho, Nagasaki City 852-8105, March, 1999). It reports on the Hiroshima andNagasaki Citizens’ Meeting for Abolition of Nuclear Weapons, a lecture by former governor
Masahide Ota of Okinawa and so forth. They are planning to publish newsletter in English.
Association of Investigating Atomic Bomb Exhibitions, Newsletter no. 7 (c/o Ms Yoko Kawai,22-4 Takamine-cho, Takamine Minami, Kita-ku, Kyoto City, May, 1999). It reports on Atomic
Bomb exhibition at Kyoto University in 1951 and other places since then. Miss Yuki Sato who
was a student of Ritsumeikan University (the supervisor was Prof. Ikuro Anzai) wrote about theatomic bomb exhibition in her graduation thesis. Medical data, photos, paintings and newspaper
articles related to atomic bomb victims were all oppressed under the US occupation. But she
wrote, “truth can’t be hidden by power. It is more so when it is related to human survival.”
Grass-root groups that were made since 1951 were reorganized in 1954 when Japanese fishermen
were affected by hydrogen bomb test on Bikini Atoll. She pointed out that if information on
nuclear weapons had been available, nuclear weapons might have been banned at an early stage.
Museum Perang Pasifik, Irian Newsletter no.20 (Mrs. Chikako Hanaoka c/o Office Hanaoka
141 Jinba, Koromokawa-mura, Isawa-gun, Iwate 029-4302, May, 1999). It reports on a trip toa village called Arzo near the border of Papua New Guinea by twelve people. They were happy
to be able to get to know Dutch people by music using an ocarina. Exhibits on Papua New
Guinea were rented by Grassroots House this summer and were shown at Kochi Municipal
Library. E-mail: hannah@poplar.ocn.ne.jp
Association of Making Clear Historical Facts of Germ War by Japanese Military,
Newsletter no. 12 (c/o ABC 2-13-21-102 Nakano, Nakano-ku, Tokyo 164-0001, July 1999). It
reports on the result of an investigation of germ war waged by Japanese military during WorldWar II in Lishui City which is in the south of Shanghai. The members support a trial by
Chinese victims of the germ war.
Association of Making Korai Museum, Korai Newsletter no. 35 (c/o Inashiro Church, 1086
Higashi Naganuma, Inashiro City, Tokyo 206-0802, May, 1999). It reports on a trip to South
Korea including National Central Museum and their impressions of warm-hearted Koreans andtheir culture. It also reports on a lecture on Buddhism in Korea and history of Buddhism in

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Japan. They are planning to make Korai Museum so that people will be able to know thehistory of exchanges between Japan and Korea.
E-mail: cyp01663@nifty.ne.jp********** ***** ***** ***** *****
We welcome your comments on this newsletter. Please take goodcare of yourselves and enjoy summer vacation!

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