Columns that reveal the world
- Getting up close and personal with the researchers -

My fields of expertise are international politics, international relations, and international security. As part of my research, I was conducting research on conflict resolution, and I had a very memorable experience.

In 1998, after the war in the former Yugoslavia, I visited Bosnia-Herzegovina to research local peacekeeping and peacebuilding. One day, I visited a junior high school in a town about two hours west of the capital, Sarajevo, to interview local junior high school students. Usually, the students are divided into groups by ethnicity, but on this day they gathered together after school for the interview. I asked them about their experiences with the conflict, what they were thinking now, how they wanted to live in the future, and so on, and at the end, I asked them for questions. One boy raised his hand.

The boy told us that he had learned the story "The Crane - Sadako's Prayer" in his English class. I'm sure you are all familiar with this story. It tells the story of Sadako Sasaki, a young girl who was exposed to radiation at the age of two in the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 and died of leukemia ten years later. The boy was deeply moved by the story and said, "We are trying to rise from the pain of conflict, so we too would like to fold a crane as a prayer for peace. Please teach me how to fold one."

It took more than two hours of struggling to teach the children, tearing up pieces of notebook paper. Until then, the children had been grouped into ethnic groups based on their origin - Bosniaks (Muslims), Croats, and Serbs - but before they knew it, they were teaching each other without any ethnic barriers, saying things like, "This part has to be done like this," and "How do you fold this part?", and when they finished, they all shared their joy together with smiles on their faces.

I still can't forget the smiles on the children's faces at that time. Since then, whenever I go to a conflict zone, I always carry origami in my bag.

This episode was what awakened me to the "power of culture" from the perspective of international politics.

I have long wondered why, while research on conflict resolution often focuses on themes such as politics, security, and economic recovery, there has been no in-depth analysis of culture. Since becoming a special research fellow at the Japan Foundation, a specialized organization for international cultural exchange, in 2006, I have broadened the scope of my research to focus on the role of culture in conflict resolution, investigating cultural activities that lead to post-conflict peacebuilding, such as a theater workshop in Aceh, Indonesia, and a literary competition project on conflict memory in Southeastern Europe, and have attempted to analyze the role of culture.

Since the end of the Cold War, there have been more civil wars than wars between nations. This has resulted in situations where the parties to a conflict have to live in close proximity to each other or in the same community after a peace agreement is signed. In order to establish peace under these circumstances, it is essential for people who once fought as allies and enemies to understand each other and reconcile beyond the ethnic and religious differences. As a starting point, I am convinced that the foundations of peacebuilding will be even stronger if we implement "cultural initiatives" in addition to the traditional political, security, and economic support.

In this column, I would like to consider the "power of culture to support peacebuilding" while introducing several examples in which sports and cultural and artistic activities play an important role in conflict resolution, ethnic reconciliation, and coexistence.

Soccer is a favorite sport among children, and it is not only a means of communication between opposing groups, but also helps people regain their confidence and give them hope. As an example, we will introduce the Korean film "Barefoot Dream," which is based on the activities of a youth soccer team in Timor-Leste.

"A Barefoot Dream" is a sports drama based on the true story of a Korean coach who led the children of East Timor, a country that still suffers from poverty despite gaining independence after years of colonial rule and a war for independence, to victory in an international soccer tournament.

Wongan, who was once a promising professional soccer player, fails in the business he started after retiring and visits Timor-Leste in search of a new life. There, he witnesses children playing soccer barefoot, and decides to open a soccer equipment store, provide shoes to poor children on an installment contract for $1 a day, and teach them how to play soccer. One day, Wongan learns that an international soccer tournament is being held in Hiroshima, and decides to have his students participate.

The conflict surrounding the civil war and independence was also strong among the boys. This conflict is expressed in the relationship between the two boys who appear in the film, Ramos and Motavio. Ramos' family and relatives fought for East Timor's independence, and after independence, he was killed or assaulted by pro-Indonesian militias. In contrast, Motavio's family and relatives supported the pro-Indonesian side. The two men frequently fought over small things, but gradually they began to open up to each other through soccer.

Kim Shin-hwan, the Korean coach who served as the model for Won Gan, said that he decided to coach the team because he deeply understood the absurdity and sadness of people of the same ethnicity hating each other, based on the history of his homeland, which experienced the Korean War. He said that he decided to coach the team because he "did not want the children of East Timor to experience the same pain."

This youth soccer team participated in the international tournament "Riverino Cup" held in Hiroshima, winning consecutive championships in 2004 and 2005. The fact that the children of Timor-Leste, who had suffered from war and civil war, had won the world championship in the land of Hiroshima, a city of peace, gave hope to the world through the film.

Let me introduce another example of "peacebuilding through football."

In order to promote ethnic reconciliation in Mostar, a southern area of Bosnia-Herzegovina that was a fierce battleground in the ethnic conflict, the sports academy "Mali Most (Little Bridge)" planned by former captain of the Japanese national soccer team, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto (currently manager of Gamba Osaka), opened in 2016.

The Bosnian War unfolded for more than three and a half years from 1992 to 1995. 200,000 people were killed, more than 2 million refugees and displaced persons were lost, and the ethnic massacres have left strong feelings of conflict. Miyamoto first learned about this issue through his graduation project for the FIFA Masters. The FIFA Masters is a master's course run by the International Football Association (FIFA) that teaches sports-related organizational theory and law. Miyamoto and his friends discussed how they wanted to create a time when Bosniak (Muslim), Croatian, and Serbian children could all smile while chasing a single ball, and how they hoped that the children who have overcome a history of ethnic conflict would become the ones who would carry their country forward. They then presented their project proposal as a hypothesis that explored the feasibility of the project.

After that, Miyamoto and his team secured support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Human Security Grassroots Grant Fund, established a corporation, and persistently negotiated with the local Ministry of Sports, the Football Association, and the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme). Finally, in October 2016, "Mali Most" opened. Former Japan national team coach Ivica Osim, who is from Bosnia, attended the ceremony to hand over the soccer field, which was built with Japanese support, to the city of Mostar. Approximately 60 people of Bosniak (Muslim), Croatian, and Serbian descent are registered at the academy. Miyamoto said, "If we kick the ball together, ethnic differences don't matter. I want to convey respect for others and fairness through sports."

In addition to soccer, various other sports are also used in comprehensive peacebuilding, including marathons, tennis, and judo. Sports can be a common language that transcends the barriers of national borders, ethnic groups, and memories such as hatred, and it could be said that it has the potential to be an important key in opening up a path of communication toward comprehensive peacebuilding.

A view of Mostar, the base of operations for "Mari Most."

Like sports, there are cases where music plays a major role in peacebuilding in conflict zones, particularly in relativizing conflicts and building trust between the parties involved. Here, we introduce the example of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, which was founded by Argentine-born Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim and Palestinian-American scholar of literature Edward Said with the aim of promoting reconciliation between Israel and Palestine.

The orchestra was founded in 1999, when the two men received a request from the organizing committee of the celebration to organize a music-related event in Weimar, Germany, as part of the celebration of the 250th anniversary of Goethe's birth. Barenboim consulted with his friend Said and proposed to gather about 70 young musicians from Israel, Palestine, and Arab countries (Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Turkey, and Iran) in Weimar and hold a workshop. Said said, "I thought it would be interesting to have (Israeli, Palestinian, and Arab musicians) perform in one orchestra, following the spirit of Goethe, who wrote a wonderful collection of poems based on his passion for Islam." Weimar is a city that has been given the title of "cultural center of Europe." The two men called the workshop a "great experiment" in which musicians who did not know each other's existence could get to know each other.

The orchestra's activities continued after the event in Weimar, and a three-week summer retreat program was held in Seville, Spain. During the retreat, the orchestra rehearsed in the morning and afternoon under the direction of Barenboim, and in the evenings, several times a week, discussion forums were held under the direction of Said, where members discussed music, culture, and politics. However, there was an unwritten rule that "overt political debates would not occur."

The participating musicians said, "By sharing the same music stand, we can have a dialogue even though we don't agree with each other." A young pianist from Jordan said, "I thought Israelis weren't human. But after coming to this workshop, I learned that Israelis have the same interests and live similar lives." While music has no boundaries, it requires everyone to work together. By performing together, the members had the opportunity to experience a common vision of freedom, equality, and mutual recognition of each other's existence.

The orchestra's activities are now taking a new step forward. In December 2016, the Barenboim-Said Academy opened behind the Berlin State Opera in Germany. This is a project that Barenboim has particularly devoted himself to in recent years. The academy provides young musicians from the Middle East with a scholarship to study in Berlin for three years. The German government has evaluated this project as "Germany's contribution to peace in the Middle East," and has funded 20 million euros of the 34 million euro construction cost for the academy's headquarters. It has also announced that it will continue to provide financial support in the future.

In 2013, Barenboim gave an interview to the Asahi Shimbun, and the words he spoke there could be said to be the very philosophy of the new academy.

"Music is the foundation of hope that can bring all dissimilar elements into harmony. Musicians cannot contribute anything to politics, but they can confront the disease of a lack of curiosity. To have curiosity is to have ears to hear what others have to say. The cause of all political conflict today is the loss of the willingness to listen to what others have to say."

Of course, music changes not only the hearts of the performers, but also the hearts of the audience. Providing a "rich world of sound" to people who have been exposed to gunfire and the sounds of destruction during conflicts is important in peacebuilding. The flushed faces of the audience in conflict zones who attended a concert for the first time in a long time demonstrate the power of the world of sound.

Looking at these examples, we can see that sports and cultural activities play an important role in "building peace of mind."

First, it has the role of allowing people of different backgrounds to share the same time and space. The young musicians who gathered at the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra lived and ate under the same roof for three weeks, rehearsing and discussing together, and were able to build relationships in which they recognized each other as fellow human beings. In Mali Most, the formative experience of the children enjoying playing soccer together on the same field at the same time will no doubt become a catalyst for coexistence across ethnic barriers in 10 or 20 years' time.

Second, it serves as a common language (catalyst). In the "origami cranes" episode introduced at the beginning, the desire to "fold cranes well" and "fold a thousand paper cranes" fostered a relationship in which people asked each other questions and taught each other beyond ethnic barriers. Similarly, in soccer and music, the single-minded desire to "play better" and "perform better" leads to mutual understanding and trust.

And thirdly, it has the role of restoring pride and solidarity. The fact that the Timor-Leste youth soccer team worked together overcoming differences in status and won the international tournament can be said to have contributed to restoring the pride and solidarity that was almost lost as Timorese citizens, not only to the players themselves, but also to their parents, relatives, and members of the local community who were cheering them on.

In this way, cultural activities are expected to play an important role as a mechanism in the peacebuilding process. In particular, in the case of civil war-type conflicts, even after peace mediation, enemies and allies will continue to live in the same community or in the same neighborhood. This is why "peacebuilding in the heart" is essential, so that people can accept their enemies as neighbors and live together.

However, peace cannot be delivered by supporting cultural activities alone. Cultural activities in the peacebuilding process can only be effective if they are implemented comprehensively together with political support, security support, economic support, and other support. We must not forget this.

Ethnic conflicts and civil wars leave deep scars in people's hearts in various ways. People in conflict zones may appear cheerful on the surface, but deep down they may be harboring negative emotions such as resentment, revenge, and a sense of stagnation. For this reason, reconciliation between the parties in conflict is not easy to achieve. Barenboim and Tsuneyasu Miyamoto avoid using the word "reconciliation" because they know firsthand how difficult it is.

From the perspective of international politics, I would like to investigate and research the role that cultural activities can play in comprehensive, multifaceted peacebuilding.

(Published in 2018)