About Peace Boat

Peace Boat is a Japan-based international NGO which promotes peace, human rights, and sustainability. Established in 1983, it holds Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations (UN).

Peace Boat carries out its main activities through a passenger ship that travels the world. Working in partnership with UN SDG Action Campaign, Peace Boat’s activities onboard and in port empower participants, strengthen local capacity for sustainability, and build people-to-people cooperation beyond borders. The voyages, run on a social business model, blend sustainable tourism, lifelong learning and friendship activities with educational programmes, cooperative projects, and advocacy.

Peace Boat carries out our activities in partnership and is a member of the following networks, among others (in alphabetical order):

• Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC),
  Northeast Asia Regional Secretariat
• International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN),
  International Steering Group
• International Peace Bureau
• Japan Campaign to Ban Landmines
• Japan Civil Society Network on SDGs (SDGs Japan)
• Japan Climate Initiative
• Korea Peace Appeal
• Mission Blue Alliance partner
• Nonviolent Peaceforce

Peace Boat’s first voyage was organized in 1983 by a group of Japanese university students as a creative response to government censorship regarding Japan’s past military aggression in the Asia-Pacific. They chartered a ship to visit neighboring countries with the aim of learning first-hand about the war from those who experienced it and initiating people-to-people exchange.

Since its first voyage in 1983, Peace Boat has chartered a number of passenger ships to organize our voyages, adapting the onboard spaces to provide a unique and dynamic environment for its participants.
Our global voyages from 2023 are organised on the Pacific World. For details about our ship, please see our travel agency Japan Grace's homepage here.

Pacific World

Decks: 15
Length: 261.3 meters
Weight: 77,441 tons
Speed: 22.4 knots ((41.48 km/h; 25.78 mph)
Capacity: 2,419 passengers (maximum)

 

Pacific World

Decks: 15
Length: 261.3 meters
Weight: 77,441 tons
Speed: 22.4 knots ((41.48 km/h; 25.78 mph)
Capacity: 2,419 passengers (maximum)

 

Peace Boat has around 100 staff members who represent diverse ages, education histories, backgrounds and nationalities. Nearly all staff members joined the Peace Boat team after participating in a voyage as a volunteer, participant or guest educator, and demonstrating a strong commitment and contribution to Peace Boat’s activities. Staff involved primarily in international outreach and coordination projects are listed below:

Founder and Director

• YOSHIOKA Tatsuya

  • Yoshioka Tatsuya has been a leading figure in Japanese civil society for the past three decades and has been active internationally in the fields of education, peace and conflict resolution. Whilst a student at Waseda University, Yoshioka founded Peace Boat in 1983 to foster grassroots dialogue and people-to-people reconciliation between Japan and other Asian countries, during a period of tension and hostilities in the region.

    Yoshioka has authored books and articles on various peace and conflict-related themes and has been invited to address the United Nations on issues including building a Culture of Peace. He is a founding member of the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC) International Steering Group, head of its Northeast Asia Secretariat, and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2008 for leading the Global Article 9 Campaign to Abolish War. 

    With a strong commitment to environmental sustainability, and a passionate belief in the necessity to develop awareness of the need for non-fossil, non-nuclear energy capacity, Yoshioka is currently spearheading the development of Peace Boat's Ecoship.

International Coordination Team

Rachel ARMSTRONG ASUKA Rin Jasna BASTIC Karen HALLOWS HATAKEYAMA Sumiko ICHIZUKA Aiko Rico ISHII ROBERTSON ISHIMARU Kensaku  Meri JOYCE KAWASAKI Akira KIM Bora KONABE Takumi MATSUMURA Masumi Emilie MCGLONE

Rémy MILLOT MITSUHASHI Yuki MORITA Sachiko NAGAYO Kaya NOHIRA Shinsaku Laure NOREST OCHI Shinichiro  OHATA Soichiro OKADA Aya SHIMOJO Asato Louise SOERENSEN WATANABE Rika YAMAMOTO Junior ZHANG Zixin

GET Global English / Español Training

ISHIDA Keiko
KOIZUMI Noriko
KUWABARA Risa
Christopher LINDSTROM
Hoby O'ROURKE
Tanika POVEA MORA