Check out the Peace Boat website

Hey!
Unfortunately, I have no time to update my blog because I am busy busy writing for Peace Boat.
Please go to www.peaceboat.org, and click on Reports from the 53rd Voyage to see what I and Peace Boat are up to.
Hope to see you somewhere around the world soon!
love,
Megumi

Setting Sail for Peace

On April 5th, I will be departing on a three and a half month journey around the world on the Japanese cruise ship Peace Boat. Starting from Yokohama, Japan, the boat will travel east through South East Asia, the Middle East, Europe, North American, the Caribbean, and Central American before returning to Japan in July. I have been invited on-board as the web reporter and will be regularly updating their website (www.peaceboat.org) with photos and reports from the 53rd voyage.

The Peace Boat organization began in the 1980’s when Japanese students became outraged at their government for hiding war crimes from their national textbooks. They then commissioned a boat to travel through Northeast Asia, so that they could gain first hand experience of the autrocities caused by the Japanese government during World War II. Today, Peace Boat is a thousand passenger cruise ship that promotes responsible tourism and educational cultural activities between boat participants and local organizations of the country.

I am looking forward to gaining an in-depth knowledge of the many issues that Peace Boat will address as it sails around the globe. The themes for the 53rd voyage include: recent controversy regarding Article #9 of the Japanese constitution, the challenges of violence in the Middle East, and creating an action plan to live in nuclear free world.

Part of the reason why I actively pursued the web reporter position was because by having to write a regular schedule of articles, I will push myself to reflect and research on the many ways in which activist, scholars, and journalists are working to create peace. Perhaps there will be a documentary film idea among them, but most definitely I will come away with a far greater understanding of peace and conflict resolution and an articulate vocabulary to back me up.

In particular I am excited to visit Da Nang, Vietnam, the largest former US military base during the Vietnam War. This voyage will also be making three stops through the Middle East: to Jordan, Egypt and Libya. In Jordan, I will have the opportunity to visit a Palestinian refugee camp and in Libya I will gain a better understanding of the changing role of women in Islam. I have often been told that my optimism and passion of nonviolence knows nothing of the fundamental fanatics and violence of the Middle East and so it’s so important for me to gain first hand experience in that part of the world. I maybe wrong, but I think my trip there will only put an even more human face to the Arab world.

I really want to make the most of this trip. I hope that the more I experience, the more my heart will grow.

My short film "March 22" at the Whitney museum

“March 22” is currently a part of a six-hour video compilation created by Deep Dish TV called “Shocking and Awful” that is playing at theWhitney Museum in New York City. www.deepdishtv.org
If you do make it to the Biennial, the video compilation is playing on the bottom floor by the museum store. “Shocking and Awful” is comprised of 12 Half hour segments and “March 22” is included in Segment 4 entitled "The Art of Resistance". If you want to catch it, I would recommend getting to the Whitney within the first hour of opening. I am credited at the end of the segment as well as on the info flyer available next to the screens. The Biennial continues till the end of May.

Oscar Nominated Short Docs

It’s Oscar time again! This year I have been making concerted effort to see the films up in the best documentary category. Last Saturday, t I went to a screening of the Oscar nominated short documentaries. Since I’m inclined to create shorter films, I wanted to see the caliber of the nominated shorts.

Three of the four that have been nominated this year are:

“God Sleep in Rwanda” by Kimberly Acquaro and Stacy Sherman. In a country where 70% of the population is women, this documentary looks at the challenges that five Rwandan women face as they try to rebuild what’s left of their lives in this war torn country. During the 1994 genocide, they witnessed their sons and husbands brutally killed before their own eyes. Some were raped countless times and are now having to deal with gruesome consequences of contracting HIV. This documentary examines the newfound responsibilities, empowerment, dreams that these women are now facing..



“The Death of Kevin Carter: Casualty of the Bang Bang Club” by Dan Krauss, is a portrait of war photographer Kevin Carter. Interviews with friends, family and colleagues, retell his disturbing experience photo documenting the killings and corpses during the Apartheid in South Africa. His experiences begin to haunt him and eventually lead him to take his own life.





“The Mushroom Club” by Steven Okazaki, looks at modern-day Japanese society as it honors the 60th anniversary of the Atomic Bomb dropping on Hiroshima. The characters portrayed in the documentary span from some of the oldest survivors to the babies that were affected radioactively while still inside their mother’s womb, now 60 year old adults with disabilities. The documentary begs the question: As the generation of survivors pass away, will the atrocities of one of the greatest crime against humanity be forgotten by the pop-culture obsessed youth?


I find it interesting that as the US lead war in Iraq drags on, three of nominated films touch on the subject of war. (In fact you might say that the fourth film, A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin, does as well.) Though none of them are specifically about current US foreign policy, (perhaps an issue that is much to sensitive for the Academy ala Michael Moore’s 2003 speech “Shame on you Mr. President”,) they all show the horrors that we often forget when conflict in that region ceases to dominate news headlines.

Looking at past war genre films, Hollywood mass-produced films that glorified the American hero, played upon the ramped patriotic spirit, and glamorized the latest technological weapon/tactic during World War II. When Vietnam came along, films like Apocalypse Now and Catch-22 reflected the public's disillusionment of war as they revealed the true insanities and horrors of violence.

So what do these three films say about conflict today? They are showing a much larger array of issues; it's not just about the American war or the American experience any longer. It is recognition of conflict on a global scale. We are no longer hearing solely from the solider, now we get to hear the civilian's and journalists' perspectives. There is recognition that war doesn't end when congress calls the troops home, that people spend the rest of their lives rebuilding their homes and hoping for a better future for children. If art does reflect life, as the old adage goes, then I take refuge in the films that are being produced today are reflections of the rising consciousness among us.

Anyways, if you get a chance to go to see a screening, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the films.

My first Non-violence Workshop

Today I participated in a non-violence workshop held at the Holman United Methodist Church. Once a month, Reverend James Lawson, a leading non-violence theorist, gives a three hour workshop that examines the philosophies and methodology of past non-violent movements.

The Season of Non-violence begins this Monday Jan 30th, the day Gandhi died and continues to the day April 4 when MILK was assassinated. So this workshop focused on the philosophy of Mohandis Gandhi.
The workshop began at 9 am with around 50 people in attendance. It seemed that many of the participants were quite active in the Los Angeles area with different peace and justice organizations. I met several members of the Interfaith Communities United for Peace and Justice and The Center for the Advancement of Nonviolence . Rev. Lawson began with an introduction of Gandhi's life and supplemented it with a segment of the PBS documentary A Force More Powerful and began to discuss how we could apply his methodology to today.

An interesting discussion ensued regarding right to self defense vs non-violence philosophy. This is something that I as an individual have tried to wrap my head around many times before. I have asked myself, if I were physically attacked whether I would retaliate physically in defense or not. And what I had unstably arrived at was that even though ideally I would like to have an openness to spirit that would not allow me to act in such away, when it came down to it I would probably attempt to defend myself. (Though I don't think I would be capable of seriously harming anyone, I would just create a space for my escape) This then cast a doubt on whether I was really capable of non-violence.

Rev. Lawson clarified that there is a difference between self-defense and nonviolence, (and I hope I don't butcher what he attempted to convey) that one can still self defend on the individual level but nonviolence was actually applicable to level of movement. During the civil rights movement, African American activists would sleep upright with a shot gun in their hands to defend their family in case of intrusion, but out on the streets among many they were able to uphold the force of nonviolence. That the movement itself was about going into the community and challenging the system.

Another important idea that I real gleaned on was regarding the success of a nonviolent movement. Rev. Lawson stated that a nonviolent movement will not succeed if there is fragmentation within, if there is still any debate of the efficacy of arms. For me personally this is such a interesting observation of human nature. Immediately his statement evoked a militant frame mind, and in fact he compared it to how when soldiers are trained they all are unified under one goal. I'm wondering if that I am just pre-conditioned to think this, and if it is just changing my perspective that I'll be able to see it in a positive light.

Anyways these are some of the thoughts that I walked away with. I knew within the first fifteen minutes of the workshop that I wished I had come many moons ago. With whatever time I may have left in LA, I definitely hope to make the most of this workshop and mentors of Rev. Lawson.

Season of Non Violence

The Season of Non-violence kicks off this weekend in Los Angles at Agape Church!

Sunday January 211:00 pm"A Season of Non-Violence" Kickoff
Please join Ron Lapointe & his Drum Circle,
Rev. Michael Beckwith, The Agape Choir, and Children's Choir, Eisha Mason, members of Americans for a Dept. of Peace, the Spoken Word Ministry, Isaiah McGee, and host Arlene Campbell to recognize "A Season of Non-Violence" and the lives of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi.

Learn more about the new legislation that has been presented in both the House and the Senate to create a Dept. of Peace that would include a Cabinet-level Secretary of Peace, and how we at Agape can help to make that a reality. Location: Parking LotAgape International Spiritual Center5700 Buckingham ParkwayCulver City, CA 90230

Vlog: Walk for Peace

October 8th
McCarthur Park, Los Angeles, CA

Buddhist Monk Thich Nhat Hahn gave a talk on "Being Peace" and lead a walk and around McCarthur Park.

A follow up to this even it planned for Jan 22,
2006 in Santa Monica.
For details on the event click the links below
http://peaceiseverystep.net/
http://www.yoga-losangeles.com/peaceiseverystep.html

Click image to watch Video. I co-directed this video Sebastian Hernandez of Califas Journals .