Yoshioka Tatsuya

Yoshioka Tatsuya

Yoshioka Tatsuya has been a leading figure in Japanese civil society for the past 30 years, and has been active internationally in the fields of education, peace and conflict resolution. He is the co-founder and the director of Peace Boat.[1]

Early career

Whilst a student at Waseda University, Yoshioka founded Peace Boat in 1983 to foster grassroots dialogue and people-to-people reconciliation between Japan and other Asian countries, during a period of tension and hostilities in the region.

From this vision of promoting people's diplomacy, Peace Boat has grown into a NGO and social business that has organised 90 voyages for peace,[2] and taken more than 60,000 people to over 100 ports on 7 continents for study, volunteering, cultural exchange and tourism. Yoshioka has led the organization of these voyages, as well as initiatives such as peace education for youth from conflict zones and post-conflict countries, and Northeast Asian people's dialogues.

GPPAC and Nobel Prize Nomination

Yoshioka is a founding member of the UN-initiated Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC) International Steering Group, Head of its Northeast Asia Secretariat, and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2008 for leading the Global Article 9 Campaign to Abolish War.[3]

After the March 11, 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, Yoshioka established the Peace Boat Disaster Relief Volunteer Centre (PBV), which has dispatched more than 14,000 volunteers to the stricken region and helped to rebuild devastated neighborhoods, as well as working on Disaster Risk Reduction through training young leaders worldwide.

Publications

He has authored books and articles including on the Civil War in the Former Yugoslavia; the Russia-Japan Northern Territories dispute; and on Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution[4] as a global common value for peace. He is an expert on issues including the Middle East and Korea-Japan relations, and has been invited to address the United Nations on issues including building a Culture of Peace.

The Ecoship Project

With a strong commitment to environmental sustainability, and a passionate belief in the necessity to develop awareness of the need for non-fossil fuel, non-nuclear energy capacity, Yoshioka is currently spearheading the development of Peace Boat's Ecoship Project[5] to create the world's first 10-mast cruise liner. Featuring a hybrid engine, zero NOx and SOx emissions, biophilic design for enhanced comfort and 740Kw of solar power generation, the Ecoship will be the greenest modern cruise ship to ever sail around the world.

References

  1. ↑ "Peace Boat - Home". peaceboat.org. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
  2. ↑ "Interview with Yoshioka Tatsuya (Founder, Peace Boat) | Singapore Management Festival". festival.sim.edu.sg. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
  3. ↑ "Peace Boat founder Yoshioka still has a lot to achieve ‹ Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion". www.japantoday.com. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
  4. ↑ "Interview 889 – Yoshioka Tatsuya Introduces the Global Article 9 Campaign to Abolish War  : The Corbett Report". www.corbettreport.com. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
  5. ↑ Programme, Climate Action. "Interview with Yoshioka Tatsuya: Co-founder and Director of Peace Boat - Climate Action Programme". www.climateactionprogramme.org. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
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