NEWS

【Interview】 Dr. Shin Chiba

Update:

ICU was "dedicated" by collaboration between American and Japanese people after the end of World War II to pursue the mission of world peace. From ICU's "dedication" in 1953, peace studies have been the core of ICU. What is a role of ICU to pursuing peace studies as the first liberal arts college in Japan?

ICU has an ideal that it should pass on over time, and that is the pursuit of world peace. That is the identity of ICU, I believe. Not only researchers of peace studies, but almost every researcher engaged in various areas of humanities, social sciences and natural sciences are thinking about peace, aren't they?

I think that ICU has the responsibility to confront this situation. ICU has two basic roles: one is to contribute to peace studies through education and the other is for the faculty members and hopefully the students to advocate for peace. ICU's mission is to foster human resources to build peace and send them out to the world.

Although there are many approaches to peace, international relations is a dominant discipline in English literature of peace studies. What is your expectation to ICU, where both Japanese and English are common languages of the university?

Many peace studies in the world start from the analysis of reality based on international relation studies. Against this background, researchers like Dr. Johan Galtung and Dr. Richard Falk and the Universities of Richmond and Bradford are trying to approach peace from viewpoints other than international relations. However, I think the mainstream of peace studies is increasingly emphasizing the reality side.

Japanese people tend to have strong victim feelings about the war because the damage caused by atomic bombing was highlighted so much. But we were more of the perpetrators of war than the victims. Our commitment to responsibility for the war and pursuit for peace is expressed in Article 9 of the Constitution.

I think that, in Japan, there is still a faith that world peace can come true someday and that we won't give up our hope for world peace. That kind of faith is still alive in Japan. Even if military force is necessary, it should be kept at the least level possible.

This kind of philosophy underpinning peace studies in Japan is alive in ICU, too. I think Japanese researchers do look at evidence seriously. After looking at all the evidence, they are still trying to pursue peace. For example, Dr. Yoshikazu Sakamoto referred to peace studies as "critical normative realism." Dr. Okudaira who used to be a member of ICU called peace studies a "stance of the soul". I think these researchers approach peace studies not only from a political but also an ethical point of view.

Amidst the rapid change of the international environment, there is an atmosphere in Japan questioning the peace-focused Japanese stance. Some people are beginning to think we may need to departure from our peace-focused attitude. This is the time that ICU should stand up to advocate for peace and take a new start to rethink and further promote peace studies. There may be some differences in approach between researchers from within Japan and overseas, but it is important to actively exchange views. That kind of diversity is the beauty of ICU.