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Special Report |
LAST UPDATE July 12, 2005
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| site design imagesparkle.com |
| March 30, 2005 |
Global University Unit Two – Multicultural Coexistence: What Can We Do? |
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| Global University (GU) students taking part in cultural exchange activities in Marseilles. |
Three days before arriving in Montego Bay, Jamaica, students in Peace Boat’s 48th Voyage’s Global University (GU) programme presented the results of their unit two study, “Multicultural Coexistence: What Can We Do?” From Tripoli, Libya to Montego Bay, GU students spent several hours each day at sea studying and discussing a wide variety of issues related to this theme, including immigration, the definition of “multicultural coexistence”, racism, prejudice, and the protection of human rights.
In class, with the help of Global University navigators from France and Japan, students compared the situation of Europe, which has a large number of African and Middle East immigrants, with Japan, a country that considers itself to be relatively homogeneous. In France, students took part in a special Exposure Tour in which they visited an NGO dealing with immigration issues and enjoyed a cultural exchange with French teenagers. Ms. Judith Martin-Razi, a French photojournalist and human rights activist, joined GU onboard from Marseilles, France to Las Palmas, Spain and helped students to better understand European immigration issues. |
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| Mr. Hamada Makoto, a GU student, and Mr. Arudou Debito, one of GU’s Unit Two navigators, chat before class. |
The second navigator for Unit Two was Mr. Arudou Debito, a naturalized citizen of Japan who is working to increase the awareness of racial discrimination in Japan. Japan is the only developed country that has not passed any form of law prohibiting racial discrimination, and Mr. Arudou has been involved in several high-profile court cases involving non-Japanese being prohibited entry to hot springs in Japan. Mr. Arudou, born a citizen of the United States, gave several lectures that challenged attendees’ perceptions of what it means to be Japanese. “My role,” he explains, “both here (on Peace Boat) and in the outside world, is to challenge people’s expectations and perceptions of what it means to be Japanese and non-Japanese. I do anything I can to help people reconsider their stereotypes and recalibrate their perceptions and expectations to make them more tolerant and accepting. It’s something that someone has to do; I can do it, so I will.” |
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| GU students give their final presentation of Unit Two. |
In their final presentation, GU students frankly shared their experiences in Unit Two and thoughts on what could be done to help Japan succeed at a multicultural coexistence. Yonekawa Chieko, 26, shared what she learned about herself. “Many Japanese people think they are not prejudiced, but we hope people will realize that anyone can be prejudiced. During Unit Two, I began to think that maybe I am prejudiced and have been hurting people around me. I didn’t know about the problems non-Japanese people face in Japan; I thought it didn’t have anything to do with me. I probably would not have made an effort to find out and I think there are a lot of people like me. I want to help Japanese people to raise awareness of problems that might be happening around them and what they can do.” |
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| During their final presentation, two GU students perform a skit showing that multicultural coexistence is not as difficult as many may think. |
Mr. Hamada Makoto, a 70 year old retired worker from Hokkaido had similar feelings. “Before I came on Peace Boat I was unaware of human rights and immigrant issues; I am ashamed of this. Many Japanese people think Japan in very homogonous, but according to official statistics, we have 1.8 million Zainichi* Koreans living in Japan. In this situation, can we say we are homogonous? We are behind globalization. We’ve been hearing stories from Mr. Arudou and I really realized how indifferent we are and how ignorant we are of the racial discrimination that we have been committing. Hearing his stories, I think it is natural that he takes such action. He is a victim, so it is natural for him to speak out. However, it is important for those of us who are not victims to also speak out.” |
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*Zainichi Korean describes Korean people still living in Japan as a result of mass mobilization and forced removal by the Japanese government during colonization of the East Asian region in the late 19th century and first half of the 20th century.
Links
Arudou Debito’s Homepage – http://www.debito.org |
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