Peace Not by Military Force but by Coexistence

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Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes.

In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized. –The Constitution of Japan, Article 9

Dear friends,

Jieun and I attended the Article 9 Conference in Okinawa, Japan in February. It was a global inter-religious conference from Japan, Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, Canada and the U.S. to protest against the Japanese government’s attempt to amend Article 9 and to advocate for keeping it as it is in the Japanese Constitution.

[ngg src="galleries" ids="1229" display="pro_horizontal_filmstrip" show_captions="1" width="80"]The conference was especially meaningful as it was held in Okinawa, for it was a battlefield during WWII, and is still heavily militarized by U.S. armed forces. The land mass of Okinawa is only 0.6% of the total land mass of Japan but contains 70% of U.S. military bases stationed in Japan.

The participants visited the construction site of the Henoko U.S. Naval Base to join the protest as well as the Futenma U.S. Air Base. It’s also heartbreaking to visit the Chibichirigama cave where 83 women and children were forced to commit suicide during the Okinawa battle in WWII. We also saw the more than 250 names of soldiers from the U.S., Japan, England, Korea and Taiwan who died in battle at the Peace Memorial Park.

Despite the horrors of war, Okinawa is still heavily militarized. The U.S. maintains military bases against the will of the Okinawan people. In fact, there is also a heavy U.S. military presence in Korea. Taiwan is equipped with an ever-increasing amount of U.S. armaments. Korea is number six in the world in weaponry production. Through the Defense Trilateral Talks between the U.S., Japan and Korea, the whole region of Northeast Asia could be in flame if even a “spark of war” were ignited in any particular area.

Peace can neither be achieved by military force nor by the silence of bombing (do you mean the threat of being bombed?) Maybe this is a Western understanding of “peace.” An Eastern understanding of “peace” (和平) is coexistence or “sharing rice equally among all people.” Peace does not come by subduing others with force.

I am meditating on what it means to have peace that only Jesus can bring to us.

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” (John 14:27)

Myung and Jieun