YM COLUMN　ARCHIVE

July 2, 2008

Children of the world and children of Japan

When Japanese tourists go overseas such as South East Asia, they will definitely meet children called “street boy”. Particularly at sightseeing area, they come near you and stretch out their hands to you. If tourists are accompanied by their children, Japanese children stared at native children as if looking at something strange. One party is children who are gracefully enjoying overseas trip on vacation, while the other is children who must earn for living by begging without any day off. These children meet each other eye to eye. I’ve come across with such scenes many times.

In Japan educational system is well established for any child go to learn in school only if they want to, but in many foreign countries a large number of children are compelled to life without education even if country is offering an educational opportunity. More disastrous are the countries whose educational system itself is broken down due to war, etc.; in such a country children are socially deprived of educational opportunity. Each country must have specific problems on education, for which solution many people must be working hard.

As you must know well, aid by UNICEF to those countries are mainly supplying life essential things like water, foods and drug medicines; even under such severe circumstances, I think children’s curiosities must be ever growing. As a proverb goes, “Well fed, well bred”, some people may say, “without living necessities there will be no room for curiosity” but I’m inclined to believe that deep in children’s mind flame must be burning for wanting to study, to know and to make. In my opinion, I think it is very important to provide them with intellectual aid such as educational materials besides essential necessities of water, foods and medicines. I want to exert my efforts for space education of Japan to be developed for such service.

Toyako Summit is just around the corner. Earlier at the end of May “Children’s Space Summit” was held in Tomakomai, Hokkaido, which was the first job of KU-MA in hosting an event. The Summit was participated by children from abroad and ended in great success with adopting Declaration and Recommendation.

Please access: http://edu.jaxa.jp/news/20080618.html Please refer to links as well.

What impressed me most were the pictures of the country called Tuvalu shown on a screen by a girl from there. She said her beautiful island country of coral reef would go under water in ten years because of sea level rise due to global warming.

In sectional meetings children from other countries asked a chain of questions to the girl, “What are you going to do if island sinks?”She brightly said, “Don’t people of the world feel sorry for such a beautiful country disappear?” and also said, “If it’s destined to disappear, may I live in your country?”

As compared with Japanese and Korean children who made presentations by studying global warming on Internet, what a poor girl compelled to such despairing situation!This is another kind of grave environmental problem other than the aid to the countries whose educational systems were broken down.

I still vividly remember in my middle school days that I was fascinated by a blinking light moving in western sky over my hometown when Sputnik went around the earth in 1957. In 1961 I was a university student and surprised to have known that Gagarin went to space for the first time as a human being. I also remember that I felt “oneness of earth” for the first time in my life. In making best use of this “sense of unity---oneness---“ that was given by space activity, I believe what is most important is never to lose the viewpoint that space activity should be contributed to not only to human being but to all other creatures on earth.

Space is not a specific segment of natural science. Essentially, space is a home of life, stage on which we live and energy source of all our activities. I put my feeling in a poem.

Hand in hand with time and stream
Upstream of things and shapes
Are coming to our home---space---

Space expanded in light and shade
Is an ocean cycling in a lively way
Hard to live together for plants and animals mingling
And yet space is home

Adventurous mind within
Challenging shape up to sky
Space is a journey of life

In space are you and I and children, too
A chain of relayed lives
Master craft mind carries an active realm
Space is living as our stage to shine

Ship sailing to moon is Mayflower of our era
The vision leads mankind for leap
Space is future dream of our planet

I welcome your opinions on this column to the following E-mail address.
matogawa@planetary.or.jp

(Translated by The Planetary Society of Japan)