The AMICUS Peace Assembly

Okinawa is approaching a very special day—Irei no Hi (Okinawa Memorial Day). In the days leading up to this important occasion, many schools across the prefecture hold peace assemblies. At AMICUS, we also held heartfelt assemblies on Friday, June 20th: elementary students during the 3rd and 4th periods, and junior high students during the 2nd period.

At the elementary assembly, students read aloud their original “Poems for Peace.” They reflected on how, during wartime, things we now take for granted—eating, studying, and laughing—were all lost. It was a moving moment, reminding us of how precious our ordinary daily lives truly are.

In contrast, the junior high assembly focused on student-led presentations, where each student researched war-related topics and shared their thoughts from their own perspectives. Their discussions extended beyond the Battle of Okinawa to include the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as the ongoing war in Ukraine. With passion and sincerity, they addressed the question: “What must we do to build a peaceful society?”

I told the students: “In a society with diverse values and cultures, peace is not something that is simply given—it is something we must create with our own hands.” At AMICUS, our educational vision (AMICUS SCHOOL VISION 2020) is to nurture individuals who seek peace through “understanding and accepting diversity” in a “richly international environment.”

Itsuko Teruoka once said, “The opposite of war is not peace, but dialogue” (Toward a Dialogic Society, Iwanami Shinsho, 2017). The junior high students’ presentations reflected the knowledge, experiences, and consideration of diverse values cultivated at AMICUS, and their words deeply moved me.

AMICUS is truly a microcosm of international society. As I watched our students learn about, think about, and speak about peace, I felt a great sense of hope. My expectations for them continue to grow—now and into the future.