Hajime Akiyama, age 26, doctoral student.
A Letter to Mr. Zenko Nakasoko
Thank you for your valuable witness.
It was my first opportunity for me to learn the situation of Hateruma Island.
I could not imagine how I felt if I was catching flies in Iriomote Island with Mr. Nakazoko.
I must be sad, but how will I feel after the sad experience?
Do I hate Yamashita?
Do I feel helplessness?
I may feel nothing in fear after the forced relocation to Iriomote Island.
I may try to do what I am told to do.
If I cannot meet the requirement, I may be dead or I may be alive.
The reality may be dry.
I am studying peace issues to be a scholar on peace.
I believe a significant role of a scholar is to think what society should be.
For me, I am scared of the society which does not allow to think anything critically.
I believe a war did not allow people to think.
If people are too busy with work, there is not enough room for them to think whether a certain action is right or wrong.
It is a scholars’ job to think about how society should be.
If I was living in the era of the war as a scholar, could I think and imagine what the society should be?
Could I be with people who are sacrificed, in particular, people in Hateruma Island who are remote both physically and psychologically from the “centre” (I believe psychological remoteness itself is problematic because this could cause discrimination)?
If I was a scholar in Tokyo, I might think that we needed to win the war at any cost.
If I thought I could not live if we lost a war, I might use my research to win the war.
It seems to be inevitable that such situation happens when wars take place.
In order to live in a humane society, we need to prevent the situation that the world is filled with fear of death such as war-time.
I do not have a clear method to prevent such fear, but I believe that attitude to have a discussion with others states based on mutual trust is necessary.
Discussion based on mutual trust is necessary within the state too.
Japan does not directly involve in any war now, but there are so many social issues, and people who live in a remote area from the “centre” face many issues.
Such issues should be solved by the discussion.
I, as one individual and a prospective scholar, will do what I can do to create a society where discussion rather than war takes place to understand each other.
I believed such an attempt is a little contribution to people who did not necessarily have enough opportunity to critically examine the society during the war, and who are too busy to work to live today.
I know your pain lasts, but I hope you spend calm days now.