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Tahiti, the Marshall Islands and Japan are not just connected by the vast Pacific Ocean; they are also connected by devastating nuclear tragedies. Japan remains the only country whose cities have suffered nuclear bomb attacks, in 1945. Five years ago, the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant disaster demonstrated the potential destructive power of even the "peaceful" use of nuclear energy.

As Peace Boat's chartered vessel Ocean Dream begins to rumble beneath the feet of the participants onboard, people wave at their family and friends, screaming "Ittekimasu!" (Good bye, see you!). The 1000 participants on board Peace Boat 91st Global Voyage will return to Yokhama in July enriched by 106 memorable days navigating the planet.

After three intense weeks onboard the 90th Peace Boat Global Voyage, the Pacific Peace Forum participants arrived in Japan on March 30. Once ashore, Michel Arakino from French Polynesia, Brooke Takala Abraham and Desmond Doulatram from the Marshall Islands, and Sato Kenta from Iitate Village in Fukushima, visited the Daigo Fukuryumaru Exhibition Hall in Tokyo and various locations in Fukushima Prefecture.

For the first time in its history, on March 22, Peace Boat docked in the port of Majuro, in the Republic of the Marshall Islands as part of its 90th Global Voyage. With a population just over 60.000, this republic of 29 atolls and five islands covers more than 1.6 million square kilometres of the central Pacific, and is made up of two island chains known as the Ralik (sunrise) Chain and the Ratak (sunset) Chain.

Peace Boat has a special relationship with Rapa Nui, the remote island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and 2,200 km from the closest inhabited place. Peace Boat first visited the island in 1996 and has since then returned 26 times.

Sometimes described as the Eighth Continent, Madagascar is one of the most biologically diverse places on the planet. The fourth largest island on Earth is also one of the poorest places in the world. Nine out of 10 people live on less than $2 per day, according to the 2012-13 Millennium Development Goal survey.

"Nuchi du takara" (life is precious). These words, spoken in 1879 by the king of the Ryukyu Kingdom, Sho Tai are central to the traditions of the peace movement in Okinawa. For hundreds of years, the group of pacific islands south of Japan was an independent kingdom, Ryukyu, a trading nation between Asian countries and a peaceful place.

The journey around the world onboard Peace Boat's 90th Global Voyage has begun. The Ocean Dream, Peace Boat's chartered vessel, departed from Yokohama on December 17, amid cheers from groups of friends, family and wellwishers who had come to see off the departure.