It started with the Vice Principal’s speech. 

 

“Life, as we know it — playing outside, catching insects, and coming to school — each of these are symbolic of peace, which we shall deeply appreciate.”

 

I hope this world of peace continues for the younger generation.

 

Next, we read a story titled “itadakimasu”, which was about an Okinawan family who lost their house in the battle, escaped far away from their home, and suffered starvation for weeks, even months. After finishing the story, we (students) appreciated the food afforded each day. We also shared some “Tan-na-fa-kuru-” a simple snack that was mentioned in the story.

 

Finally, we worked as a team on the “Peace Puzzle”. A series of pictures drawn by students was rearranged into a larger picture of peace, and we put it together like a puzzle. No one has seen the finished picture yet. It was great to see our hard work come together to make up this one big picture.

 

In the Junior High School Peace Assembly, we (students) got together for a group activity. They put together a graph using information from the book, “If the world were a village of 100 people”. 

 

 

It’s quite clear when we group ourselves accordingly to the scale of population, spoken languages, etc.

 

 

It was really shocking to see how much of the world’s population could receive proper education. 

 

 

We learned not only to appreciate the world we live in now, but also to think of what we might do to help people in need around the world, who currently struggle for peace.