Global Candle Chain - 3/11 6th Remembrance by Beautiful Energy

Global Candle Chain - 3/11 6th Remembrance by Beautiful Energy

Peace On Earth/Earth Garden 3/11 remembrance, gathering to co-create a life-sustaining culture, March 3-11, 2014 @Tokyo

Global Candle Chain - 3/11 Third Anniversary Remembrance by Beautiful Energy @The World

(Photo by Teppei Sato (c))

Via our friends at Beautiful Energy:

Global Candle Chain - 3/11 Third Anniversary Remembrance by Beautiful Energy

When: Tuesday, March 11, 2014,  2:45pm in UTC+11

Where: The World

日本語は英語に続きます。

Light a candle this coming March 11 and join the Beautiful Energy - Global Candles Chain in memory of the triple disaster of March 11, 2011 and in solidarity with the global stand for a nuclear-free world.

March 11 it will be 3 years since the Northeastern Earthquake and Tsunami hit Japan, killing over 15,000 people, destroying numerous villages along the Tohoku coast and disrupting the lives of millions.

On that same day the Fukushima Nuclear Plant disaster also put an end to the peaceful lives of many people living in the vicinity of the plant.

Helps us create a global chain of light to honor those who lost their lives or loved ones.

Last year over 900 people in 47 countries joined our global candle chain. See here for many beautiful photos https://www.facebook.com/events/420275958062841/

You can join from anywhere in the world. Anytime on March 11 between 2.46pm Japan time (the time the earthquake first struck ) and midnight in your country light a candle and stand one minute (or more) in silence.

Send us a photo of your candle, if you will. Upload to this page or send by email to globalcandlechain@gmail.com.
Or post on twitter or instagram with hashtag #candlesforpeace

And spread the word! Share this event page with your friends. The more people and countries join, the more powerful our chain will be!

Here are the global starting times of the chain:

イベント開始時刻 / Start time
グローバル・キャンドルチェーンの開始は、3月11日、東北地方太平洋沖地震発生時刻の14:46から同日深夜まで行う予定です。

各国の現地時間は下記リストからご確認ください。

6.46pm New Zealand (Auckland)
4.46pm Australia (Sydney)
2.46pm Japan, South Korea
1.46pm China & Hong Kong, Mongolia, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines
12.46pm Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam
11.16am India, Sri Lanka
9.16am Iran
9.46am Russia (Moscow)
7.46am Finland, Estonia, Israel, Greece, Rwanda, South-Africa
6.46am Europe: Netherlands, France, Germany, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Austria, Switzerland
5.46am Europe (UK & Scotland)
2.46am Brazil, Argentina, Trinidad, Chile
1.46am USA (Washington, New York, EST)
1.46am Canada (Toronto)
00.46am Peru
10.46pm Canada (Vancouver) (March 10)
> 10.46pm USA: (Los Angeles) (March 10)
> 7.46pm Hawaii (March 10)

来る3.11に、東日本大震災により、地震・津波・原発事故と、三重の被害を受けた方々への追悼と核のない世界を願い、世界中でキャンドルを灯すことで私たちのBeautiful Energyに参加しませんか？

Global Candle Chainは、世界中どこからでも、キャンドルに火を灯すことで参加できるワールドワイドなイベントです。
キャンドルであかりを灯す様子を写真に取って、イベントページへシェアして下さい！

15000人以上もの人々が犠牲となり、広大な地域を破壊した東日本大震災。現在もなお、多くの人々が避難生活を強いられています。
また3月11日に発生した大地震が誘発した福島第一原子力発電所の事故により、日本、そして世界中が原発の恐ろしさに気づかされました。

震災発生から3年目を迎える3月11日、震災犠牲者への追悼、
そして被災者のみなさまが一刻も早く穏やかな生活を取り戻せることへの祈り、また、核のない世界への願いを込めて、世界中をキャンドルの光で繋ぐグローバルな"Chain"を作ることに是非協力してください！

去年の3.11には、900人以上、47カ国の世界中の人々がこのGlobal Candle Chainへ参加されました。

前回のたくさんの美しい写真を見るにはこちら：https://www.facebook.com/events/420275958062841/

3月11日当日は震災の起きた14：46（日本時間）～0：00（あなたの住んでいる国）の間、いつでも、どこででも参加することができます。
キャンドルを灯し、心の光と共に黙祷を捧げましょう。

＜参加方法＞
あなたのキャンドルナイトの様子を、写真で撮って私たちに送ってください。
1.Instagram、Twitterを利用する（ #candlesforpeace のタグを使ってください）
2.Emailに添付（アドレス：globalcandlechain@gmail.com）する
3.このFBイベントページにアップロードする
※世界中からの参加者数をカウントしますので、ご事情でキャンセルしなければいけない場合は必ず「参加」を取り消してください。

311 Global Candles for Peaceは、オープンなイベントです。日本はもちろん、各国にお住まいの友人・家族にぜひこの活動を共有してくださいね。

B.E.メンバー一同より

About us:

https://www.facebook.com/BeautifulEnergyTokyo
https://www.facebook.com/groups/BeautifulEnergy/

Vote by March 15th for sustainable Tokyo-based solar-sail cargo ship Greenheart - nominated for Royal Dutch Society of Engineers Prize

Your vote for Greenheart counts- Even in Dutch!

Via Jen Teeter in Kyoto, please check out the latest from Greenheart, a visionary renewable energy project based in Japan:

Creating the world’s first solar-sail cargo ship tailored to fit the needs of marginalized coastal communities is an idea that has propelled a small Tokyo-based international team closer to winning a major engineering prize far from home shore.

International NGO Greenheart Project is but one of 10 nominees for the Vernufteling Prize, to be awarded by the Koninklijk Instituut Van Ingenieurs (the Royal Dutch Society of Engineers), De Ingenieur and Technish Weeblad magazines, and a Dutch association of consulting engineers, NLingenieurs. The finalists were chosen from a field of more than forty submissions based on four criteria: innovation, economic worth, technological advancement, and social value.

The Vernufteling Prize is awarded annually to the initiative that is developing an imaginative project that promises to have a significant social and economic impact. Competitors were asked to respond to the challenge of creating ideas that both embody the social importance of innovative technology. The competition also seeks to make the important work of engineers more visible and widely recognized.

In line with the Dutch word Vernufteling, a portmanteau of inventor, engineer and a lot of creativity, entrants are encouraged to utilize a combination of new and existing technologies to solve real world problems. The winning project also must show potential to attract young people to technical studies and inspire them.

Over the past eight years, 83 engineering firms have submitted a total of 376 ideas, projects and innovative solutions to the Vernufteling Prize. In 2013 Arcadis took home the award for their innovative Winterhard Wissel which keeps railways free from snow and ice in the winter.

As Gert Schouwstra, a Dutch consultant at AA-Planadvies, who nominated Greenheart Project explained, “This project can really work. This year, we shall see how Greenheart will prove itself.”

Greenheart ships are customizable to meet the needs of the end user, whether they be used for fishing, fisheries monitoring, , ecotourism, cargo or passenger transport.

A unique feature is an open source platform which ensures that the end-users can have a say in how future ships are built without the financial and technical burdens of paying for patent rights.

Intentionally designed to be small scale at 32 meters in length and 220 tons, the vessels are designed to be easy to repair and service while maintaining the elegance of a yacht. Through its foldable mast/crane the ship can be maneuvered under bridges allowing greater upstream access, and lift items large and small on and off of shore, whether cargo, a haul of fish or even floating debris such as nets during an environmental cleanup mission.

Greenheart class ships promise to play a hefty role in restoring economic and ecological balance to transport in vulnerable and remote coastal communities, while setting an example that vessels powered by renewable energies are a practical alternative to fossil-fuel based fleets.

Voting by the general public is open from February 25th to March 15th through the Van Dag de Ingenieur (Day of the Engineer) website. After tallying up the votes, the Vernufteling prize winner will be announced on March19, 2014 at High Tech Campus Eindhoven.

To vote for Greenheart...

1. Go to this site: http://www.dagvandeingenieur.nl/vernufteling/publieksverkiezing-2014/
2. Choose "AA Planadvies-Groen vrachtschip voor eilandengroep" from the pull down menu at the top of the page
3. Put in your name and email address
4. Click Stemmen (Vote).
*No need to check any of the boxes there (The page is in Dutch and English)
The Vernufteling Prize is awarded annually to the initiative that is developing an imaginative project that promises to have a significant social and economic impact. If we win it will give us the wide public exposure that will propel us to finishing the construction of the boat and getting more people interested in joining us in changing the paradigm of shipping and waterway transport.

Drawing upon, and endeavoring to be compatible with, the rich sailing traditions of coastal communities, Greenheart is working to radically amplify access to the oceanic commons and distant markets, while interacting with the environment in a more equitable and just manner. Greenheart is intentionally open source small-scaled, durable, adaptable, affordable, energy-efficient, solar/sail cargo ship that is easy to service and repair. It expects to rearrange the balance of opportunities among rich and poor by making safe, long distance sea travel accessible to marginalized and excluded sectors of the world population.

ABOUT GREENHEART PROJECT

The Greenheart Project is an international non-profit organization founded in Tokyo, Japan with offices in Europe and Japan, preparing to build the world’s first fuel-free, container-ready commercial vessel. The small sail-solar ship is specially designed for use by communities in marginalized coastal communities and can serve as a mobile solar power station. It will be built in Chittagong, Bangladesh and launched as early as this year.

To learn more about Greenheart Project visit: www.greenheartproject.org
Pat Utley, Greenheart Director
patutley@greenheartproject.org
P: +81-3-5606-9310

Don't Forget Fukushima: "...if people don't make an effort to raise my voice, then no one outside of Japan will know what's happening. And that is...soul-destroying."

Via Greenpeace:  Over one hundred thousand Japanese people have been forced to leave their familial homes and livelihoods because of the second largest nuclear plant fallout in history. They have been ignored by their government and TEPCO, owner of the disaster site. They fear life will get even worse if they are forgotten by the world.  So Greenpeace brought six activists to Fukushima to see and listen.

Here is the page with links to the stories of Minako Sugano (mother of young children), Kenichi Hasagawa (former Iitate Village dairy farmer, now a nuclear refugee), Hiroshi Kanno (another former Iitate farmer, now a nuclear refugee), Tatsuko Ogawara (organic farmer) , Katsutaka Idogawa (former mayor of Futaba, an evacuated village), and Kenji Fukuda (a lawyer who advocates for 3/11 victims): "Fukushima: Don't Forget"

Many thanks to Fresh Currents on FB for a head's up re the video of the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan (FCCJ) press conference of the six activists, "Bearing Witness to the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster."

The press conference began with testimony from the Fukushima victims who all shared that it is their moral duty to tell the world about the nuclear catastrophe, especially given the inadequate response by the government and Japanese media to the catastrophe, and to a clean energy future for Japan and the world.

One of the striking themes from the global witnesses for Fukushima is how the catastrophe has raised global awareness about  the dangers from the nuclear industry. (In the years since 3/11, locals worldwide have began to speak out about nuclear issues in their own backyards, attributing their newfound outspokenness to Fukushima.  People are speaking out about uranium mining pits, nuclear waste, nuclear fuel plants, nuclear weapons, depleted uranium plants and depleted uranium weapons in their backyards).

Another theme is that people now realize governments and nuclear energy companies are incapable of controlling nuclear accidents. Chernobyl was written off as the an accident by a bumbling managers. Initially 3/11 was excused as the result of an unpreventable natural disaster, but we know now that the nuclear disaster at Fukushima was preventable. TEPCO was incompetent and negligent.

A final theme is that Fukushima is an ongoing, planetary issue. It's not over.

Hisayo Takada. Greenpeace Japan Climate and Energy campaigner, pointed out that it's possible forJapan to end dependence on nuclear and fossil energy, and shift directly to renewable energy, combined with increased conservation efforts. In so doing, Japan could be a global model for clean energy policy.

(7:28) Minako Sugano, mother and former kindergarten teacher:

This is time I should be spending with my children -- and losing that makes me hate nuclear power plants even more.

So when I come to speak to you about my experience, I'm also thinking, 'Why do I have to do this?' I'm just a mother. Why should I spend time doing this when I should be spending it with my children?

But if people don't make an effort to raise my voice, then no one outside of Japan will know what's happening.  And that is even more soul-destroying. (crying...)

(8:10) Katsutaka Idogawa, former mayor of Futaba:

While the primary cause of the disaster was the tsunami, in fact, the real underlying cause of the disaster was that the managers had fallen asleep at the wheel and evaded their responsibilities.

Right at the moment in Japan, the regulatory authority only debates in terms of natural disasters being the only threat causing nuclear power plant accidents

And unbelievably and terrifyingly, among the regulatory authority and the managers, none of them have experienced on the front line themselves. And the real cause of the accident was that the people in charge don't have any experience, on the front line, where it counts. And without reflecting upon this at all, or thinking about why this is wrong, they are now, trying to restart nuclear reactors in Japan.

(10:15) Kenichi Hasegawa, former dairy farmer:

The biggest problem in Japan now is the deliberate cover-up of the levels of radiation that people have been exposed to and the health problems they have. There is a continual, purposeful concealment of facts that the media in Japan will not properly report.

So, what we need is for foreign countries to put pressure on Japan and hopefully bring the truth to light.

(13:08) Jean-François Juliard, Greenpeace France Executive Director:

...This is not just a natural disaster. You can't just build new houses...new infrastructure...and say, 'Okay we can forget about the accident.'

We cannot convey how important it is for the people of Fukushima to keep their stories alive....This is why I'm here, to take these stories back to my country...

Japan should not export nuclear materials to other countries. Japan should not relaunch new reactors. It has to be a nuclear-free country forever. This is not just a responsibility for the Japanese people, but for the whole world...

(16:45) Sundarrajan Gomathinayagam, director, Hard n soft technologies pvt:

The people of  a small village in the southernmost part of India have been putting up a spirited fight against the Koodankulam nuclear plant for more than two years. We owe this spirit to Fukushima. People have learned about the dangers of nuclear power after the catatrophic accident that happened in Fukushima. We woke up and are standing against the dangers because of Fukushima.

We know all is not well in Fukushima...Minako Sugano has charged us to take her voice to all the mothers across the globe; she believes it is the voice of the mother has the power to change things in the future...

Yoon Ho Seob, Green Designer and Professor Emeritus in Kookmin University:

The Fukushima disaster is clearly an ongoing global catastrophe, an unmistakable mistake in our era. The rights of Fukushima people to live healthy and happy lives have been violated...

Right after the March 2011 disaster, I felt the disaster was different from other disasters; something is very wrong, to the point I can't ignore. Then immediately I had a discussion with my family to decrease our energy consumption as much as possible...

The current situation of the victims and what they have gone through gives a clear impression that no government and no company can control a nuclear accident and protect people...Still the South Korean government is planning to increase nuclear reactors from the current number of 23 to 39, although the nuclear density is the highest in the world.  Also, we have millions of people living near nuclear power plants in Korea. If a nuclear accident happens in South Korea, the scale will be the highest in world history...

If we put our knowledge together, we already have cleaner and better options...

(38.08) Hisako Tanaka:

Currently about 12-13 percent of Japan's energy comes from renewable sources. That includes hydropower from water dams.

In-depth Background: "Toward a Peaceful Society Without Nuclear Energy: Understanding the Power Structures Behind the 3.11 Fukushima Nuclear Disaster" by Nishioka Nobuyuki, Translated by John Junkerman (APJ: Dec. 26, 2011):

Japan has experienced more exposure to nuclear bombs and radiation than any country on earth. August 6, 1945—Hiroshima. August 9—Nagasaki. March 1, 1954—Lucky Dragon No. 5. And March 11, 2011—Fukushima. Japanese people have repeatedly been the victims of radioactive contamination. And each time, they have pledged their opposition to nukes. With 3.11 as a starting point, the world is attempting to pursue a new way of living.

We aim to create a society without war that has no use for armies, bases, soldiers, and weapons. That society is also a no nukes society, free of nuclear power.

Severn Cullis-Suzuki "Love is the Movement" Japan Tour • Simultaneous screenings of Velcrow Ripper's Occupy Love

"If you can’t fix the environment, please stop breaking it!” Severn said to the world leaders at the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992. She was only twelve years old. A video of her speech presenting environmental issues from a youth perspective went viral, and Severn Cullis-Suzuki became known around the world as “The Girl Who Silenced the World for 5 Minutes." 

Severn, daughter of Japanese Canadian scientist and environmentalist David Suzuki, is now 34-years-old and an environmental activist, speaker, television host and author. She has spoken around the world about environmental issues, urging listeners to define their values, act with the future in mind, and take individual responsibility. 

For the first time in six years, Severn returns to Japan for “Love is the Movement” – a series of talks about the future of the human race in the face of global environmental crisis. Issues covered include the localization movement, the fair trade movement, and other movements that focus on quality of life for our children and future generations. 

Severn Suzuki will be at Kyoto's Ryukoku University on February 21st.

Details (in Japanese) here: http://kokucheese.com/event/index/141937/

Other stops include Tokyo, Nagoya, Kyoto, Fukuoka, and Shiga. 

Simultaneous screening of Canadian filmmaker Velcrow Ripper's Occupy Love, the third film in the inspirational "Fierce Love" trilogy about global grassroots nonviolent environmental and democratic movements. 

Schedule (Japanese):  http://unitedpeople.jp/occupy/jouei. 

Details on the "Love is the Movement" Tour (in Japanese) here: http://www.sloth.gr.jp/events/sev2014/

All about Severn Suzuki here: http://severncullissuzuki.com/bio

"Love is the Movement" on Facebook (in Japanese): https://www.facebook.com/sev2014. 

May 2014 be filled with light, healing, and peace...

This luminous photo is from  Beautiful Energy's last Candles for Peace gathering of 2013.  Their first Candles for Peace gathering in 2014 will be Friday, January 10, as always, at the Kokkai-gijidomae Station, adjacent to the Japanese National Diet Building.

Beautiful Energy - 1st Anniversary Celebration - Tokyo - Nov. 30, 2013

(Photo: Beautiful Energy)

Via Jacinta Hin and Natsu no Color of Tokyo-based Beautiful Energy/The Stand for a Nuclear-Free World.

Beautiful Energy is... born out of the weekly Friday anti-nuclear demonstrations in Tokyo in front of and around the prime minister's residence and Parliament. Through inspired, peaceful action we stand for a nuclear-free world that thrives on renewable energy.

Our current, ongoing project is Candles for Peace. Every Friday, from 6-8pm Japan time, we gather in front of parliament in kokkai gijido, joining the weekly anti-nuclear protest, and create a beautiful display of candlelight to symbolize our intentions...

This group of visionary citizen activists in Tokyo radiate positive (and beautiful) emotional, ethical energy and holistic vision.  They're engaged in outreach and support for Fukushima nuclear refugees, (including bringing hot meals to elder refugees living in a shelter).  Sharing their kind of healing, constructive worldview is a first step in our collective transition from toxic to nontoxic, renewable energy production and use.

In November it will be one year since we lighted our Beautiful Energy candles for the first time. Time for a little celebration!

You are invited to our anniversary party in Tokyo on November 30. Join us for an intimate evening with live music, delicious graceful vegan foods and of course candles!

Date: November 30 (Saturday), from 19.00 – 22.30pm
Place: Bar GariGari (Tokyo, Setagaya-ku, Daizawa 2-45-9, .. Building B1 /

http://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1318/A131801/13126176/dtlmap/ / opposite Ikenoue Station, Inokashira-line (2 stops from Shibuya)

Charge: 2,000 yen (inclusive vegan buffet foods, music charge and charity donation).

* Vegan foods provided by our Friday neighbors Yuko Ogura and Yayoi Ito of Guerilla Café

* Drinks are not included. Please order at least one drink at the bar

* 500 yen will go to Share Your Christmas (SYC). SYC collects and brings Christmas presents from around the world to people in Tohoku affected by the 3/11 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster (https://www.facebook.com/shareyourchristmaswithtohoku)

Please bring your own chopsticks, so we may reduce waste and spread eco-energy!

19:00 Start

19:20 Anniversary Speech

19:30 Special Message from people from all over the world♪

19:45 Music time: nuclear-free world songs by Natsu, Chris and other Beautiful Energizers! (details to follow)

20:30 Enjoy conversation with each other!

22:30 End

Kindly let us know no later than November 20 if you plan to attend (and sooner if you can).

40,000 rally in Tokyo for a nuclear-free and war-free Japan (and World); Global Article 9 gathering in Osaka

(Via Jacinta Hin and Beautiful Energy)

More via our friends at Beautiful Energy - The Stand for a Nuclear Free World:

Good Morning world! Today is NO NUKES DAY in Tokyo, the day of the big demonstration. Many people from all over Japan coming together in protest to ask for a nuclear-free Japan.

If you're in Tokyo, JOIN, be seen, be heard, make a difference!

If you cannot join in person, be with all of us in spirit and heart.

To get you in the mood, we have the perfect song for you. Talented musician Natsu of our Beautiful Energy core group, has created a NO NUKES version of a famous pop song. Listen to her beautiful voice and soulful NO NUKES, BABY and be connected with us today!

At the end of September, nuclear-free supporters held two rallies after TEPCO asked for permission to restart TEPCO on Friday asked Japan's nuclear watchdog for permission to restart its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture.

Since September 15, all of Japan's nuclear plants have been in shut-down for maintenance.

---

Also over the weekend, the Global Article Nine Campaign held 

its second international conference  supporting a (nuclear-free) world without war:  

the Article Nine World Conference in Osaka.

Happy Earth Day!

Via Keibo Shinichi Oiwa Tsuji on FB

We can't put this better than our friend, eco-blogger Martin Frid, at Kurashi: 

I was lucky enough to walk through the Earthday market in Tokyo today, a regular Sunday. If you haven't tried it, you haven't experienced the more aware youth in Japan, all the NGOs, the amazing farmers markets, the hemp clothes, the organic tea, the hippie vibe. This is a city that cares about the environment, the state of the planet, the wholeness. We are all connected.

グリーンハート・プロジェクト 寄付キャンペーン Greenheart Indiegogo Crowd funding Campaign （until Nov. 1st / 11月1日まで）

(English Below）
もし、環境に一切負荷を与えず、しかも、これまで好条件の市場や漁場へのアクセスが不可能だった数多くの 人々が活用できる、海上輸送手段があったとしたら？

そして、燃料を消費するのではなく、電力を創りだす船があったとしたら？

私達はそんな船を形にしようとしている、東京生まれの、国際的NPO団体です。

プロジェクトの主旨

環境汚染物質を排出せず、燃料を消費せず、港湾施設の整っていない発展途上国の海岸線へのアクセスを可能 にし、しかも長期航海に耐えうる船があったなら―

そのようなアイデアから始まったこのプロジェクトは、これまで数年の時間をかけてリサーチを行い、専門家の 意見をもとに計画を進めてきました。そしてこのような船は、大型船舶によって世界市場を動かす大企業で はなく、周りを海に囲まれた環境にありながら、安価で便利な輸送手段をもたない貧しい地域に暮らす何億もの 人々にとって、切実に必要とされていることを実感してきました。健全な市場 に出て適切な価格で取引を行うことができる―それだけで、彼らの暮らしは大きく変わるのです。


グリーンハート号の特徴

＊燃料を使用しない―これが意味するのは、燃料費がかからない、CO²やその他の有毒物質を排出しない、といっ たことだけでなく、燃料補給のための停泊も必要としません。地域ごとの適切な人件費、費用はそれだけなのです。 ＊メンテナンスが容易―燃料エンジンに依存していないため、メンテナンスの回数もより少なく、費用も抑えられます


＊活動範囲の多様化―分刻みに消費される燃料の心配がないため、より柔軟な活動を可能にします。

・なぜ小型なのか？

現在の太陽光発電パネルは環境にやさしく、高効率ですが、出力に限りがあります。船の主な動 力は風ですから、このサイズの船に必要な補助電力と、生活に必 要な電力（電灯や冷蔵庫、海水の濾過）が発電できる大きさでいいのです。


・活動地域のインフラ整備を最小限に抑えることも重要

＊船体を浅く設計することで、浅瀬や川岸への停泊を可能に
＊船尾をロールオン・ロールオフ式にして、さまざまな種類の船荷を運んだりエコツーリズムの要素 を加えたりできる
＊クレーン式マストの採用により、港湾設備が全くない場所、低い橋の下でも活動が可能に
＊どのような積荷にも対応可能なため、麻袋からコンテナまで積むことができる

また私たちは、船の耐性や修理面、操作のしやすさなども踏まえて設計に取り組んでいます。どれほど偉大な 志や決意があっても、自分達で操作できなければ意味が無いからです。


プロジェクトへの支援

目標とする資金は＄120,000 (寄付サイト）

＊サイトは英語ですので、このＰＤＦで日本でどうやって寄付できるか、書いています！

私たちは皆さんからの支援によって、船の建設費用を集めています。この支援は ただ募金するだけでなく、その金額によって特典がつきます。特典には、 船に名前を記載したり、実際に特定距離を一緒に航海したり、もちろん クルーとして航海に参加するというものも含まれています。すでに名 乗りを上げてくれている企業からの支援金に皆さんからのサポートが加わることにより、誰にでも操作で きる最新技術を搭載した、丈夫な船を完成させることができるのです。


まず、最初の一隻を製造するところから始まります。

初めの一隻は　小さい一歩　に思えるかもしれませんが、それは何千もの人々の暮らしに、影響を及ぼ すかもしれません。その一隻はやがて何十、何百、何千隻もの船の、世界で最初の一隻になるのです。

処女航海は様々な環境や条件に対するテスト航行となり、実用的で 多様な活動をしながら世界をめぐる、６万マイルの距離を予定しています。

寄付サイト　http://www.indiegogo.com/greenheart
ホームページ　http://www.greenheartproject.org

We all know that we need to live more sustainably. However, when be purhcase products from the stores, or even try to build an eco-house, we are forced to depend on transportation services that pollute. When we buy fair trade products, the producers still do not have full control over how their products get delivered. For these, and many other reasons, Greenheart is making small-scale solar- and wind-powered ships to shake up the shipping industry.

Greenheart is making completely fuel-free, sail- and solar-poweredsmall ship specially designed to provide marginalized coastal communities around the world with an affordable means of sustainable marinetransport.

The driving features of the designs are:

1. Cheap to build, maintain, & operate
2. Easy, basic, and tested technologies Zero-emissions, low stress on theenvironment
3. A sailing mast that doubles as a cargo crane
4. Shallow and tough enough to service beachesand unimproved ports

Who Benefits?

• World shipping is making efforts to movetowards cleaner vessels. Present technology limits truly clean (zero-emission) ships toabout Greenheart’s size. We are helping to push those limits upwards.
• Small-scale, no range limits nor fuel costsmake this an appropriate development tool –giving struggling coastal communitiesaround the world profitable access to globalmarkets. A leapfrog technology for marginalized economies.
• People everywhere are inspired by simple clean and elegant solutions that promise abetter future. Greenheart’s maiden voyages will accentuate positive publicity and innovative thinking.

For more information, visit Greenheart's campaign site which will be running until November 1st and help them reach their ambitious goal of $120,000!

In exchange for donatiosn, Greenheart will send you a $10 or $20 voucher to buy any goods at the retailers listed below. There are no restrictions on what you buy with the vouchers, all they ask is you try to shop as locally as possible.

• $25 Perk - On top of other gifts you get a $10 Shopping voucher
• $50 & $75 Perk - Add a $20 Shopping voucher

 The vouchers will be sent out at the end of the campaign in November, in time for the holidays.

North America

Global Exchange [2 stores in San Francisco, Wash. D.C., Virginia] http:www.globalexchange.org

Haiti Projects [Boston + Online Shop] http://haitiprojects.org

Traditions Café and World Folk Art [Olympia, Washington] http://www.traditionsfairtrade.com

Europe

Rapanui Clothing (UK) [Isle of Wight Shop + Online Shop] http://www.rapanuiclothing.com

Tres Hombres [Netherlands – Rum and Madeira ] http://www.svtreshombres.com

You can also receive an all natural bamboo speaker for your iphone, or ship your own items on the world's first fuel-free cargo ship, or get on the boat yourself!

Check out the campaign site at: http://www.indiegogo.com/greenheart
Homepage http://www.greenheartproject.org

JSF: Fifty Two Municipalities in Japan are Energy Self-Sufficient with Renewables

Japan for Sustainability reports "Fifty Two Municipalities in Japan are Energy Self-Sufficient with Renewables."

A Nuclear Power Free World is Possible- Conference Jan 14-15 Yokohama

A nuclear power free Japan and a nuclear power free world are possible. This weekend over 8000 people will gather in Yokohama Japan to share information on how to make this attainable goal a reality. Growing out of a coalition of Japan-based NGOs including the Citizens' Nuclear Information Centre (CNIC), FoE Japan, Green Action, Greenpeace Japan, the Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies (ISEP), and Peace Boat, the Global Conference for a Nuclear Power Free World will:

• bring together the voices of people who suffer from radiation exposure all around the world, whether by nuclear power or nuclear weapons - “Global Hibakusha”.
• facilitate the sharing of information with one another. Participants will learn from each other's experiences to illustrate the human and environmental consequences of the nuclear chain.
• aim to demonstrate that it is realistically possible to create a society that is not dependent on nuclear power.
• create a road map for the safe removal of existing nuclear power plants.
• present alternative policies based on renewable energy and propose action plans that can be implemented by Japan and other countries.

Mémé Madoka Watanabe, a Peace Boat staffer coordinating publicity within the Japanesecommunity shared some insight on Peace Boat's involvement in organizing the conference:

The Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, and the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, have both had a dramatic impact around the world. In response to this massive disaster and its tragic consequences to people's lives and environment, the people of Japan are trying to take steps towards recovery. Meanwhile, the nuclear power plant is still unstable and workers are forced to continue working in life-threatening conditions. As the radioactive contamination spreads, many people including children are forced to suffer from prolonged radiation exposure, unable to evacuate due to lack of support from the government.

It is vital that we do not continue to make the same mistakes. It is now time for humanity to put an end to the nuclear age that started with Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In Japan, well over half the population now supports the goal of breaking away from nuclear power. However, many people question whether it is practically possible to bring nuclear power to an end.

For these reasons and more, a coalition of Japan-based Peace Boat is acting as the secretariat for the conference on behalf of the coalition of Japan based NGO's.

Watanabe stressed how the event is a positive step for the world to move towards eliminating nuclear power as an option:

This event will be an important and positive step for Japan and other countries towards taking action for a nuclear power free world. The presence of both organizations and independent citizens will show that efforts since the disaster to learn from Fukushima have not gone unnoticed. We aim to learn from Fukushima, exchange lessons about nuclear power from around the world and make clear the need to break away from nuclear power. It is also a chance for us to show the people of Fukushima, many of whom feel despondent about the future, that positive action is being taken.The conference will bring together ideas from around the globe to propose action plans that can be carried out by Japan and other countries all over the world.

She also noted how the conference is an outgrowth of other related Peace Boat activities:

Activities such as the Global Voyage for a Nuclear Free World - Peace Boat Hibakusha Project, bringing survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings around the world to give testimony and advocate for nuclear abolition, while meeting with people affected by the nuclear chain around the world, have contributed to public education about the need to move towards a nuclear free world. Peace Boat also carries out other activities promoting nuclear weapon free zones, disarmament for development, and more.

Since March 17, 2011 in the immediate aftermath of the disaster, Peace Boat has been active in Ishinomaki, Miyagi prefecture, one of the hardest hit cities on the coast of northeast Japan. Peace Boat is acting in a coordination role between Ishinomaki’s local government and the many NGOs, institutions and individuals offering help in the area and dispatching volunteers each week. With 10,000 volunteers to date. Some of the relief and recovery activities include preparing and serving hot meals, delivering relief goods, cleaning mud out of homes and businesses and salvaging fishing equipment.More recently volunteers have been supporting the communities in the Temporary Houses by distributing a newsletter and becoming part of the community as well as helping to identify and serve their needs. Their presence not only supports the physical recovery of the towns but also gives the local community the encouragement to rebuild.

- Posted by Jen Teeter

John Einarsen's In the Realm of the Bicycle up for People's Choice Award!

 Congratulations to John Einarsen for the nomination of his recent book of photography, In the Realm of the Bicycle, for a People's Choice Award.

The photographer (and KJ's founding editor, stylish art director) uses photography as a medium to expand and deepen perception. In this book, the focus is bicycles in Japan's ancient capital, but the field of vision is infinite:

Each encounter I had with a member of this vast race revealed an individual with a personality all its own, the result of a history at once common and mysterious. Inevitably, I came to see them as they really were: creatures who populated the niches and nooks and corners and alleys of neighborhoods and streets and lives....

Most of the images in the book were taken in Kyoto over the years.

Cycle Kyoto adds this note:

Each photo in In the Realm of the Bicycle is a haiku, a brief fleeting moment that contains a larger truth.

To view a sample some of the pages, go to: blurb.com.

The cover of In the Realm of the Bicycle is by long-time KJ graphic designer Tiery Le.

The Kyoto Journal: Perspectives From Asia (a/k/a KJ) emerged from Kyoto's international cultural milieu during the 1980's; the iconic English-language quarterly will embark a new incarnation online in September.

Grassroots Asians part of interconnected worldwide coal-free movement: Coal is not the answer for post-3.11 Japan

China's example demonstrates that coal is not an answer to energy production. (Image: Sierra Club)

Congratulations to locals in Sabah, Malaysia and their global supporters in prevailing against a coal company 

that wanted to destroy this beautiful coast! (Image: Sierra Club)

Last month scientists reported that Pacific marine life passed into the Atlantic Ocean for the first time in thousands of years because global warming has melted ice cover in the Arctic. This month we've seen a flurry of news stories stating China's coal burning has "halted" global warming. Responsible media outlets like Reuters and Discover qualified the finding with pronouncements from climate change scientists who stressed that, over the long term, sulfur dioxide emissions from coal would increase global warming. Anyone who has been to China (or the Appalachian region of the United States) already knows coal is not an answer to energy production. The coal industry is as destructive as the oil and nuclear energy industries: causing permanent ruin of entire eco-systems and communities worldwide.

Even before 3.11, Japanese electricity producers were, together, the world's #1 coal importer and had planned or had under construction several new major coal-fired power stations in Japan:

Tepco previously said it expected two new coal-fired units to start operations in late 2013—a 1 GW plant at Hitachinaka and the 600 MW Hiromo No. 6 unit northeast of Tokyo, and J-Power has several plans for new coal-fired generating stations.

In past years, Japanese energy companies clashed with the Environment Ministry over emissions. Coal energy concerns now are using the Fukushima catastrophe to push through previously rejected projects and pursue growth. Owners of a mine project (20% owned by Japanese; 20% owned by South Koreans) in Vancouver, British Columbia want to produce coal for export to Asia over the objections of local residents. Itochu, a Japanese trading group, paid US$1.52 billion to acquire a 20% stake in Drummond International’s Colombian coal mining operation. The agreement gives Itochu “rights” to sell Colombian coal in Japan. The conglomerate, a major uranium supplier, used to buy most of its coal from Australian companies and has investments in Canada, Indonesia, and China. Two days ago, Mitsui bought a 49% share of Australia's Cockatoo coal project.

In Asia (and elsewhere), coal companies have seized farm land and destroyed villages, rendering entire populations homeless. The Sierra Club details this pattern of destruction, attempted destruction, and local resistance by rural people who want to save their ancestral homes and natural environments in "Down With Coal! The Grassroots Anti-Coal Movement Goes Global":

While China struggles with the enormity of the pollution burden from its world-leading annual coal consumption, it is not the only hotbed of future coal-plant construction. Activists in India, for example, report that regulators gave the green light to at least 173 coal projects during 2010 -- nearly one plant every other day. In Southeast Asia, large Chinese utilities such as China Huadian are setting up shop to finance and build a slew of new coal plants. Meanwhile, new coal mines are being proposed in Australia and Indonesia, overwhelmingly for export sales. Countries from Mozambique to Mongolia, which have had little domestic need for coal, are now being hyped as the next big players in the global coal rush. (Photo: A 2,000-MW coal plant in Madhya Pradesh, India.)

In the fertile farming areas that support large rural populations in much of Asia, the new coal boom spells civil conflict, as fields are seized, villages are ordered to pack up and leave, and communities resist. For the U.S. coal movement, the 2,500 people who turned out to protest the Capitol Power Plant was a large number. In India or Bangladesh, marches and demonstrations of more than 10,000 people are not uncommon.

The dominant international narrative focuses on the need to build large numbers of new coal plants across the developing world to spur economic progress. However, the assertion that development can only be achieved through a massive expansion of coal use is being met with increasingly fierce resistance by those asked to bear the most toxic and destructive burdens of this expansion: the people living next to coal projects.

Local populations are resisting private and public-sector pressure to dramatically expand coal-fired power because these projects are not intended for their benefit. While local people face displacement and the destruction of their livelihoods, electricity is often exported to urban centers. Communities are calling for a more sustainable model of energy development that prioritizes access to energy services for all, environmental sustainability, and human health. Their efforts to halt coal-plant construction have placed them front and center in the struggle over energy and development in the 21st century.

In the past, most communities struggling to take on ill-conceived projects have done so largely on their own, but that's starting to change. International coalitions are beginning to develop to bring publicity and support to front-line efforts. Here are a dozen places around the world where people are uniting to halt coal projects, increasingly with international support.

•  Sabah, Malaysia

In April, 1,500 people convened on a beach in Malaysia to savor a victory that had been judged impossible just two years earlier: the defeat of a 300-MW coal plant in the Malaysian state of Sabah, located on the northeast side of the island of Borneo. Celebrations were also underway 7,500 miles away, in California, among a group of activists who had helped draw international publicity to the issue -- including a Time magazine article entitled "A Coal Plant in Paradise."

• Phulbari, Bangladesh

Bangladesh's high population density (more than 164 million people in a country the size of Iowa) and rich agricultural land make coal mining a destructive proposition. In the township of Phulbari, as many as 220,000 people would be displaced by a proposed 15-million-ton-per-year coal mine and a 500-MW coal plant. Community opposition reached a crescendo in 2006, when paramilitary forces fired on a protest rally of as many as 70,000 people, killing three people and injuring 200. In the wake of these deaths, nationwide protests and strikes closed down the country for four days... During recent demonstrations, the Bangladeshi government has deployed its Rapid Action Battalion, notorious for torture and for the deaths of persons in its custody. The repression has failed.

• Andhra Pradesh, India

This coastal state of eastern India is experiencing a coal-plant construction boom, including the 4,000-MW Krishnapatnam Ultra Mega Power Project, one of nine such massive projects in planning or under construction across the country...The 2,640-MW Sompeta plant proposed by Nagarjuna Construction Company and the 2,640-MW Bhavanapadu plant proposed by East Coast Energy have both provoked large nonviolent protests that have ended in police attacks, including four deaths of local residents. Following coverage of the police action on Indian television, investigations revealed a pattern of "crony capitalism" among the permitting agencies and corporate sponsors. As of May 2011, the Sompeta plant had been cancelled and the Bhavanapadu plant had been placed on hold by officials, with corruption investigations continuing...

• Dawei, Burma

In Dawei, on the beautiful southern peninsula coast of Burma, Italian-Thai Development Plc signed a deal in Nov. 2010 to build a 4,000-to-6,000-MW coal plant, the largest in Southeast Asia and possibly the world. Within weeks of the signing, 19 villages had received orders to move. Dawei is 10 miles from Maungmagan, a scenic beach and rich fishing district...

• Nakhon Si Thammarat Province, Thailand - On Feb. 24, 2011, 10,000 people formed a human chain in this province in Thailand to protest a coal-fired power plant planned by Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand...

• Konkan Coast of Maharashtra, India

Home to 112 million people, this state in western India is building a concentration of large coal plants on a tiny sliver of land south of Mumbai known as the Konkan Coast (dubbed "the California of Maharashtra")...Concerned by the pollution and displacement entailed by the massive proposals, farmers have targeted some of the largest projects. One of these is the 4,000-MW Girye Ultra Mega Power Project, which prompted mango farmers and others to stage marches, hunger strikes, and other nonviolent actions. They successfully forced the project to seek a new location [PDF] as protests barred the government from acquiring the needed land.

• Orissa, India

In this state on the eastern coast of India, the scale of coal-plant development is staggering... In March, activists from across India converged on Orissa for a national conclave to plan a response to the coal boom, as well as the related issues of energy use and climate change. The mobilization includes the National Alliance for People's Movements, Focus Odisha, and numerous other groups.

• Madhya Pradesh, India

Since 1977, when the World Bank financed the first coal-fired plant in the region, the Singrauli district of this state in central India has been notorious for roughshod development and population displacement. Now more massive coal plants are being built or planned... The concentration of power generation in an agricultural area has left local communities reeling. The Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project, for example, has displaced 6,000 people. One man is benefiting: Mukesh Ambani, the controlling owner of India-based Reliance Power, whose reported net worth of $27 billion makes him one of the world's five richest individuals.

• Queensland and New South Wales, Australia

On a tonnage basis, Australia already leads the world in coal exports, and that lead may widen significantly if several massive mines are allowed to move forward in the eastern coal-mining states of Queensland and New South Wales... Farmers and ranchers are fighting back with a concerted effort to protect rich agricultural lands and precious water resources from mining operations...

•  Victoria, Australia

While the low-quality coal in this state in southeastern Australia is not suitable for export, it provides 91 percent of the fuel used for power generation in Victoria itself...

• Colombia

One of the oldest examples of citizens working across national boundaries on coal issues is the coalition of human rights and labor organizations that has brought attention to the massive mines in Colombia, such as the 35-by-5-mile Cerrejón coal mine, operated by Cerrejón Coal Company, and the mines operated by Drummond. The expansion of these mines has been marked by paramilitary violence, high numbers of deaths in mining accidents, and displacement of entire communities, including Tabaco, a 700-person Afro-Colombian village that was razed in 2001. Witness for Peace has brought members of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth to visit the mines, as well as people who live near the Salem Power Station in Massachusetts, which uses coal from Colombia.

• Sarangani Province, the Philippines

In the Philippines, grassroots protests against new coal plants and open-pit coal mining have taken place across the country...At a separate demonstration, students at Mindanao State University dressed as Na'vi from the film Avatar marched on the fenced property of the proposed plant site...

The co-authors (collaborative activists worldwide) conclude:

As grassroots resistance grows in countries around the globe, a nascent, interconnected, worldwide anti-coal movement is emerging. In an increasingly globalized world, local campaigns can quickly reach a global audience and tap into previously unimagined support networks. While the participants in this new movement are diverse, some of the patterns are becoming clear: sustained and passionate grassroots activism is challenging the idea that fossil fuels are the only option. Many governments have backtracked or shelved plans in response to political pressure or legal actions. Some banks, investors, and even energy companies are growing increasingly wary of further supporting coal.

But it's still too early to write the obituary for King Coal. The industry is now attempting to wrap itself in the cloak of "development," justifying dirty energy projects in the name of providing energy access for some of the world's most economically poor countries. While many coal projects have encountered strong opposition, too many others are proceeding without challenge.

...Like tobacco, coal insinuated its way into our lives delivering a cheap, short-term energy high, but leaving a bitter long-term aftertaste -- in the case of coal, ruined rivers and lands, lives wrecked and cut short, abandoned communities, and an increasingly polluted and potentially unlivable atmosphere.

We need clean energy alternatives, not the continuation of dirty energy that destroys people's health, livelihoods, and resources. Will you join the growing global movement to move away from coal?

(24 February 2011 - Thailand. Children join Greenpeace & thousands of other people from Nakhon Si Thammarat to protest plans for a new coal-fired power station to be built in their province by the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT). The protesters call for EGAT to immediately withdraw its coal project due to projected serious economic, social and environmental impacts. Photo: Greenpeace Int.)

Wind Farm in Ibaraki (north of Tokyo, south of Fukushima) survives earthquakes; producing power

Huffington Post:"...the Japanese wind industry is still functioning and helping to keep the lights on during the Fuksuhima crisis."

Spring Love Harukaze 2010: Music festival-goers feel the love; explore issues of peace and sustainability

For the second year in a row during the first weekend of April, amidst cherry blossoms at their peak and near-perfect (if slightly chilly) weather, the Spring Love Harukaze festival transformed Tokyo's Yoyogi Park into a space of positive energy and peaceful vibes.

The event featured some of Japan’s top musical talent, as well as a series of talk sessions related to various peace and environmental issues. In addition, the festival included a flea market with natural and eco-related goods, food stalls with organic and various world cuisines, tents with information from peace and environmental NPOs/NGOs, a DJ tent where young dancers enjoyed chilled-out grooves, and jam sessions/performances spontaneously organized by festival-goers that cropped up all over the venue throughout the weekend.

The festival was the result of a collaboration between Harukaze organizers, who put on rave parties of the same name in Yoyogi Park during the 1990s, together with the volunteer collective Peace Not War Japan, which organizes events combining music and peace. By bringing back the festival as Spring Love: Harukaze and including the educational component, their goal expanded to encourage festival attendees—including youth who may never before have thought about these social topics—to consider war, militarism, peace and sustainability.

Masudo Ikue and Peace Not War Japan coordinator Fukui Hiroshi

One speaker was Masudo Ikue, a television and film actor, well-known by her former stage name, Takagi Saya. While still making occasional public appearances, she decided in 2008 to scale back her work to focus on natural pursuits such as running her own beachside eco-gallery, growing some of her own food, and free-diving (she is a champion record-holder in Hawaii!).

“The modern capitalist system that we live in encourages us to spend our energy gathering material possessions while gradually drifting further and further away from nature and healthy ways of living, ” Ikue declared. “It is up to each one of us to look deep inside and reconnect with our own deepest selves to see what we truly want out of this life.”

Another discussion, titled “Building sustainable, non-militarized economies: examples of organic, small-scale, community-based alternatives to a military-dependent economy,” featured three well-known peace and environmental activists and offered a similar message.

“When you structure your life the way the capitalist system demands—working as a slave to one single company—your individuality has absolutely no meaning, since the instant you are gone, you will simply be replaced by another cog in the wheel,” explained speaker Tanaka Yu. “The recipe for happiness is to be in control of your life by diversifying your income sources, and always doing what you want to do rather than what some boss is telling you to do.”

Panelist Kosaka Masaru, a thirtysomething who runs his own organic café/bar and grows his own soybeans and rice, said that his greatest happiness is listening to great music and cooking tasty, healthy food.

Also on the panel was writer, translator, and activist Kikuchi Yumi, whose family lives in a restored farmhouse and grows all of their own organic vegetables and rice. She emphasized that growing one’s own food is as easy as starting with one simple herb planter at home; anyone can do it. She also described the local currency system in her region of Awa, southern Chiba, where residents may buy certain products using “Awa Money" in addition to Japanese yen.

“This kind of local currency movement is the basis for building peaceful societies, as opposed to what happens with Japan’s major banks—where money in peoples’ savings accounts are used without their knowledge to purchase things like cluster bombs used in U.S. wars,” concluded Tanaka, who also serves as executive director of the Mirai Bank (“Bank of the Future”)—a model for other sustainable community projects such as the Artist Power Bank. “We have the power to create peaceful societies by choosing how and where we use our money.


Supporters of Takae Village, Okinawa, portraying the kuina bird that is endangered by U.S. military base construction in Yanbaru, a subtropical rainforest in northern Okinawa 

The third talk session also focused closely on creating alternatives to existing ills. Titled “Listen to citizens' voices: No more wasteful, destructive construction projects!," the panel discussion featured speakers from groups working to save Mt. Takao from a highway tunnel; stop the construction of a nuclear power plant in Kaminoseki, on the Inland Sea; and protect the lush Takae Village in Okinawa’s Yanbaru forest from construction of U.S. military training helipads. In the latter case, the Japanese government has brought a lawsuit against villagers who organized to stage a nonviolent sit-in protest against the construction.

“The role of a government is supposed to be protecting its citizens, but the Japanese government is clearly doing the opposite by exposing locals to these helipads, which carry very real risks of accidents using the unstable, dangerous Osprey aircraft,” explained Peace Not War Japan coordinator Fukui Hiroshi. He organized the panel to create solidarity among various domestic movements, all facing a common goal: to protect human beings and nature alike from militarism’s endless capacity for destruction.

The event’s final talk session, titled “Why should Japan's Constitutional Article 9 (the peace clause) be protected?,” considered the ways in which governments should function--as opposed to how they often do in reality. “With Japan’s peace constitution in danger, we must also look at other examples of peace constitutions at work, such as the case of Ecuador, which successfully ousted a U.S. military base,” said panel moderator and Peace Boat staff member Matsumura Masumi.

“Japan must protect its peace constitution in order to avoid becoming a country like the United States, where systematic poverty results in young people being shipped off to fight destructive wars,” agreed freelance journalist Shiva Rei, a firsthand observer of war and violent occupation areas like Iraq and Gaza. “We must also do what we can to solve other related problems, such as making sure that we use natural energy sources rather than nuclear power—something that requires that we act on both personal and social/political levels.”

Panelists Shiva Rei, Kamebuchi Yuka and Matsumura Masumi 

discussing issues related to Japan's Constitutional Article 9

"This kind of topic might not come naturally for some of us,” concluded the third panelist Kamebuchi Yuka, a gospel singer and director of the Harukaze planning committee.“But one thing that every single one of us here can do is to go home tonight and talk to others about what we heard here at this festival. Another thing we can do is to get educated about the constitutional change election that is coming up next month.”

The event featured two stages: the main Spring Stage, where most musical acts and peace talks took place; and the smaller, cozier Love Stage, which housed DJs, smaller musical acts, and presentations from representatives of several of the NPOs and NGOs in attendance. One group was US for Okinawa, composed mostly of foreign residents in Japan committed to demonstrating their support for the halt of U.S. military expansion in Okinawa. The group organized a booth at the event with a photo exhibition, FAQ sheet, and petition that show the destructive impact of U.S. military bases. Coincidentally, many of the network's core members were actually on a study tour to visit U.S. bases in Okinawa on the very same weekend as Spring Love—their report of their fruitful tour may be read here.

 

Another speaker on the Love Stage was Clara Shinobu Iura, a Japanese-Brazilian who is one of the 13 indigenous grandmothers featured in the film For the Next Seven Generations. It recounts how the women came together from around the world to impart their knowledge and healing wisdom to younger generations before it is too late.

“I was warned by my sister to be careful when visiting Mt. Fuji, because I am such a sensitive person and might be susceptible to particular energies there,” Iura told festival listeners. “Well, that is exactly what happened…it was as if the mountain was speaking to me, and telling me to dedicate my life to trying to save the earth.”

Iura, who is now a practicing shaman in the Amazon rainforest of Brazil, will visit Amami Oshima island in southern Japan with the other grandmothers this coming October for a festival event, where they will conduct healing prayers and workshops. More information is available about the grandmothers’ project here.

 

Clara Shinobu Iura, seated right

Many other organizations participated—including From Earth, an ecology/fair trade shop promoting organic lifestyles; and the nonprofit groups Habitat for Humanity and Natural House, partnering to spearhead a unique fundraiser for survivors of the earthquake in Haiti by selling handmade bricks for ¥500 in a project simulating the construction of new homes.





Many of the performing artists echoed messages onstage supporting the spirit of the event. “Even if we feel we cannot make a difference on a large scale with our individual actions, it is still important to live every single moment with purpose and clarity; this in itself is a step toward creating a peaceful world,” said the spokesperson for Gocoo, a phenomenal 11-piece wadaiko (Japanese drum) ensemble.



The event’s closing artist, Sandii Bunbun, offered one of the most striking stage performances of the entire weekend. An internationally-known rock singer who collaborated with many famous artists during the 1970's and 80's using various stage names, Sandii—who grew up in Hawai’i—returned to her roots some years ago by performing more Hawai’ian music, and also earning the rank of Kumu Hula (hula master).

春風2010　SANDII~SandiiBunbun with Earth Conscious and Hula All 

After purifying the energy of the space, Sandii began her set by singing and drumming several numbers dedicated to Pele, the Hawai’ian goddess of passion and fire, while flanked by a troupe of her dancing students, known as the Hula All Stars. This was followed by an energetic set with her band, Earth Consciousness, which featured instrumentation including a didgeridoo, as well as stunning background visuals projected behind the stage.

 





Just prior to her performance, Peace Not War Japan shared a powerfully poignant message of solidarity that had been received from activist Kyle Kajihiro in Hawai’i, which may be read in full here.

Peace Not War Japan coordinators Fukui Hiroshi and Kimberly Hughes

The festival received thoughtful solidarity messages from Sung-Hee Choi, an activist with the No Base Stories of Korea website and Peace Not War Japan founder Dom Pates.

"I enjoyed myself here so much," said one event-goer, a third-year university student of social issues and history. "Coming here made me feel like it is possible to change the world to make it a better place!"

Peace Not War Japan extends deepest thanks to all artists and participants who helped make the Spring Love Harukaze event possible, as well as the 40,000 some attendees who dropped by the event over the weekend to make it their own—and everyone who took the time to read this report.

Truly…each one of us represents the peace we wish to see in the world!

-- Kimberly Hughes

Spring Love Harukaze 2010 focuses on issue of military bases & militaristic versus sustainable economy & culture

It’s back!!

Spring Love (Harukaze) is making its second run in Yoyogi Park on April 3rd and 4th, promising a weekend extravaganza of top-rated musical and dance performances, film screenings, organic food and goods, and talk sessions featuring peace-related social action.

Come out and enjoy the cherry blossoms while feeding your mind and soul with some Spring Love!!

Date/Time: Saturday, April 3rd (1-8 PM) and Sunday,
April 4th (12-7:30 PM)
Venue: Yoyogi Park Outdoor Stage
Admission: Free!!

Event will feature:

■ Performances from numerous musicians and dancers representing a variety of artistic genres
■ Peace-related talk sessions, films, and exhibitions
■ Events on two separate stages (Spring Stage and Love Stage)
■ Booths with literature from peace-related NPOs/NGOs
■ Spring Love Market with sales of various eco-friendly goods
■ Spring Love Kitchen featuring stalls with organic/ethnic foods
■ Live painting
■ Kids’ activities

Peace program:

Saturday, April 3rd

2:30-3:25 PM: Military bases and the role of the media

Panelists: Kobayashi Atsushi (director/producer of several military-base related documentary films); Shiva Rei (freelance journalist who has reported from places including Iraq and Gaza)
Navigator: Inada Hideaki (Solar Inc.)

4:35-4:50 PM: Hints for carving out natural, sustainable lifestyles in today's unnatural, unsustainable modern societies

Speaker: Ikue Masudo, formerly known as Takagi Saya (TV/film actor, free diver, owner of Furyu organic cafe/gallery)
Navigator: Fukui Hiroshi (Peace Not War Japan music director,DJ)

4:50-5:50 PM: Why should Japan's Constitutional Article 9 (the peace clause) be protected?

Panelists: Matsumari Masumi (Peace Boat); Shiva Rei (freelance journalist); Kamebuchi Yuka (gospel singer, peace advocate)

8:30 PM〜: Documentary film screenings

We don’t need bases anywhere!, ANPO and The Insular Empire: America in the Marianas promotional clips, Message from Yanbaru: A Documentary of Takae, Higashi Village in Okinawa, Alternative Lifestyles: Learning from the European Squatting Movement, Kukuru (featuring a live performance from singer UA in Takae village, Okinawa)

Sunday, April 4th

2:00-2:45 PM: Listen to citizens' voices: No more wasteful, destructive construction!

Hear from activists working to stop the following projects in environmentally rich areas: a tunnel through Mt. Takao; a nuclear power plant in Kaminoseki; and a U.S. military site in Takae Village, Okinawa.

Panelists: Sakata Masako (Kenju no kai); Higa "Marty" Masato (documentary filmmaker); Yamato Taka (organic loquat farmer); Yamada Sei (peace/environmental activist and author)

3:30-4:25 PM: Building sustainable, non-militarized economies: examples of organic, small-scale, community-based alternatives to a military-dependent economy

Panelists: Kikuchi Yumi (Harmonics Life Center director, Tokyo Peace Film Festival producer, Japan United for a Ministry of Peace committee member); Tanaka Yu (Mirai Bank Director, Japan International Volunteer Center board member, ap bank member); Kosaka Masaru (organic restaurant/bar owner, writer, rice/soybean farmer)

5:10-5:25 PM: Kikuchi Yumi, a well-known peace/environmental activist, writer, translator, and international speaker, shares the latest information on 9/11-related issues, the Tokyo Peace Film Festival, and more!

Navigator: Kimberly Hughes, Peace Not War Japan co-coordinator.

Musical performers:

Ikue Asazaki (traditional Amami Shimauta folk songs)
http://www.asazakiikue.com/profile.html

Sayoko meets YA MAN RIDDIM (funky reggae + djembe)
http://www.watonari.net/, http://www.naradaisuke.com/

Blues the Butcher-590213 + Leyona (rock/soul/reggae/blues)
http://bls-act.co.jp/artists/bluesthe-butcher-590213
http://www.leyona.net/bio.html

Rakita (acoustic groove)
http://www.myspace.com/uheheheoregarakitada

Yuppi & Tane (elementary school aged singer/songwriter!)
http://www.conisis.com/yuppi/

Rabirabi (percussion/voice duo)
http://www.rabirabi.com/about%20R/about_R.html

Ailie (roots reggae)
http://www.roots1music.com/ailie/index_main.html

nam

GOCOO ＋ GoRo
11-piece wadaiko (Japanese drum) ensemble

Kamebuchi Yuka and Voices of Japan (VOJA) (gospel)
http://www.tmp-voja.co.jp/index.html

Mika Arisaka　(jazz)
http://www.jvcmusic.co.jp/-/Profile/A014076.html

SandiiBunbun with Earth Conscious and Hula All Stars (Hawaiian)
http://www.sandii.info/

The Tchiky's (Acoustic/Afrobeat/Dub)
http://nbsa.info/site/?p=1012

Takeru (reggae)

Fukugawa Baron Club (Indonesian gamelan)

YOSHIE (belly dancing)
http://ameblo.jp/bellydancer-yoshie/

Uranagel (folk)

Jintaramuta (fusion unit blending Japanese traveling street protest music together with elements of modern jazz)
http://www.cicala-mvta.com/profileenglish.shtml

Abdallah
(http://yaplog.jp/abdallah/archive/15)

Mon Kumagai (shamisen)

And more!

Additional Information:

※ Please note that there may be changes in the list of performers and guests.

※ Please refrain from smoking within the venue area, as well as from taking photographs of the performers.

※ A portion of the sales of food and goods--as well as all donations placed in our donation boxes, will be given to several grassroots organizations in order to support their ongoing work for nonviolent peace action.

※ Spring Love has a “gomi-zero” ("no garbage") policy.

Please leave the venue as clean as you found it by separating your trash at one of the provided garbage stations. Garbage
cleanup is an extremely expensive undertaking, and if this policy is not respected, we may not be able to offer this free
festival in the future. Show some spring love by following the "gomi-zero" rule!!

※ Volunteers needed before and during the event!! (setup, translation/interpretation, cleanup, various administrative tasks,
etc.) If you are able to help, please contact us at kim@pnwj.org!

Event support: A SEED JAPAN, Solar, Peace Not War Japan,
TEAM