Saturday, February 10, 2007

Bridging the Gap

I found a very intriguing story about a Japanese group, members of which kept planting seeds in an abandoned and devastated Chinese village, on the English version of Asahi Shimbun, one of Japanese leading newspaper.

The paper features a serial of issue titled "Bridging the Gap." As you may know the relationship between Japan and China is sour mainly due I think to misunderstandings. I feel very pity of the fact that Japanese soldiers exerted kinds of atrocities on people in China during Japan-China War and we need to reflect upon those situations in a sincere manner, but there is another fact that such brutalities have been much focused on school education in China. More than that, I feel very sorry that some Japanese nationalistic legislators said what hurt Chinese people several times.

Despite that, the news reasonable and moderate citizens keep efforts to bridge the gap pleased and relieved me a lot. The project is organized by Osaka-based nonprofit organization Green Earth Network and its Chinese counterpart office in the city of Datong, Shanxi province over the past 15 years. According to the article, since Shanxi province was the location of harsh combats during the War, when 58-year-old secretary general, Kunio Takami, visited the village and planted for the first time, he was disdained and told as demon. However their continuous dedications broke the ice and started to bear beautiful fruit. The group so far "provided nearly 800,000 apricot saplings to farmers and schools, as well as instructions on how to grow the trees," the issue said.

As a result, once ravaged village was revitalized and local peoples' memories of Japanese military acts were separated from current Japanese people. In August, Takami was awarded to be an honorary citizen. Now that whenever he visits the village, he is greeted by cheers.

I am really moved by the story. Heartfelt dedications by selfless people not only revivified the land but also bridged the gap between China and Japan. Whatever difficulty I face in my life, I want to do what I can step by step. You can read whole story by the address.

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200702050124.html
-TA

No comments: