Our original name was Japanese/ American Peace Alliance (JAPA). The name JAPA reflected its origin, which started with a monthly dialogue between the people of Japan and America, those who once fought against each other in a tragic conflict. We are proof of the possibility that people from countries once in the state of war can be friends and take mutual actions toward peace.
In August, 2022, we changed our name from JAPA to Universal Peace Connection (UPC) to reflect our belief that each person can take a role in achieving global peace. Now that we are holding our first online International Peace Conference in September, we are putting front and center this inclusiveness. We chose to change our name from JAPA to UPC to envision our worldwide connectivity.
On September 21st, 2020. Tomomasa (”Tomo”) Yagisawa, one of the UPC founding members, hosted an online, one-day event connecting Japan and California on International Day of Peace.
Dr. Jean Lipman-Blumen participated in the event from California. She is an esteemed professor at the Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management at Claremont Graduate University (CGU) in Claremont, California. Tomo had taken her leadership classes as a graduate student.
“Such an event should not be held annually. It is important to have these gatherings every month”, stated Dr. Lipman-Blumen during the meeting. She then suggested Tomo start a monthly meeting.
Following her suggestion, some participants invited their friends to join monthly Peace Meetings to discuss world peace, war and weapons, equitable prosperity, functioning society and sustainable development goals (SDGs), as well as support those who take action in these fields.
Our monthly Peace Meeting is open to anyone who wants to exchange ideas on peace-related issues and to take action in their everyday life.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine prompted us to take action toward world peace. In April, we hosted an online film viewing event to watch “A Hope of Nagasaki: Kind People”. This documentary film, directed by Mr. Kazumi Matsumoto, follows ten hibakusha, survivors of the 1945 atomic bombing in Nagasaki, through personal interviews.
While organizing this film viewing event, we named ourselves JAPA to reflect the beginning of our group in the hope that people once engaged in war can now build trust and friendship. Even when tension exists between or among countries, individuals can mutually understand and respect with each other, and thus prevent the isolation of misunderstanding. Such hate and prejudice on the individual level can only add fuel to the fire to promote war and give countries an excuse to start massive conflicts.
In war, no one wins.