Akira Kawasaki, Part 3

Grasping the gap between ideals and reality

Akira. Kawasaki (right) taking care of the disabled in the summer of 1997.

Akira Kawasaki

Born in Tokyo in 1968. In his second year in junior high school, he visited Hiroshima with his father and the experience stirred his first anti-nuclear feelings. During his university days, he took trips to China, the Middle East and the Caucasus region. He also took seminars in the "North-South Problem" involving developing countries as well as environmental issues. In 1998, he became a staff member of Peace Depot, an NPO engaged in nuclear disarmament. In 2000, he became director of Peace Depot. Since 2003, he has been a member of the executive committee of Peace Boat. He now lives in the city of Kawasaki.

In 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait. A multi-national force led by the United States deployed troops in countries around Iraq and the Gulf War would soon break out.

One year before, I had returned from my trip to the Middle East and I was studying Persian in college in order to stay in contact with people I met on my trip. But the area I had visited was on the verge of war. I felt frustrated and alarmed, but the teacher and students in my Persian class didn't seem to care about the situation in the Middle East. The class started by opening the textbook as usual and ended without addressing the issue at all. Something shifted in my mind at the time. I thought such study was pointless.

After that, I stopped attending almost all my classes. Instead, I started an action to oppose the Gulf War with my close friends. I was enrolled in the Faculty of Law, but I jokingly said my faculty was for "outlaws" or I was a student in the department of "printing" because I was copying so many anti-war flyers.

I needed two additional years to graduate from university. This was at the end of the "bubble economy" and I looked positively on the life of a freelance worker. I thought I could get by that way and I wasn't worried about the future.

Before I graduated, a friend who was set to be a bureaucrat in the Foreign Ministry invited me out for a drink. He said to me, "I'm becoming a diplomat to preserve Article 9 of the Constitution. If you want to promote peace, you should do this from inside the government." His words made me think, but I reached the conclusion that, for me, it would be better to have the freedom to engage in the peace activities of my own choosing. I regret, though, that I've lost touch with that friend and I no longer know what he's doing.

At the time, it was hard to make a living as an NGO worker in Japan. For our own NGO, we were personally responsible for all the expenses, including the rent for a small office. At our meetings, everyone paid 300 yen and this money was used to pay the rent. I was in charge of our bookkeeping for a few years.

In fact, there was one person who had good things to say, but would avoid paying the 300 yen we needed from everyone. At other times we didn't throw away our garbage properly and our neighbors scolded us. When we leased a photocopier, we were cheated out of 2 million yen and became burdened with this debt. We had to seek out a lawyer for help.

To make ends meet, I also worked as a government-paid "home helper" for the disabled for about seven years. It was a convenient job as I only needed to work the contracted hours, so I was able to manage our peace activities, too.

Working as a "home helper" showed me that there's also a harsh reality to the lofty ideals of social welfare.

People who work at NGOs are often thought of as "idealists" or "people who aren't in touch with the real world." In fact, many young people say things like "My dream is to work at an NGO, but I first plan to work at a company to understand the real world."

I object to this notion, though. I think NGO workers grasp the gap between ideals and reality better than anyone. Many of them are wise and practical members of society who are working to shape the "real world" to reflect their ideals. If they weren't, their efforts wouldn't find much success.

Finally, let me tell you how I respond when people ask me: "Why did you become interested in peace issues?" I tell them: "For me, this interest was very natural. Why aren't you interested in peace issues?"