TUFS Students Attend 17th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates

December 5, 2019

From Thursday the 19th to Sunday the 22nd of September, the “17th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates” was held in Merida, Mexico in which two TUFS students, YACHIDA Koharu (School of International and Area Studies, Latin American studies/Spanish language studies, third year) and OIMATSU Kyoka (School of International Area Studies, Northwest European Studies/English language studies, first year), were lucky enough to participate. This summit is held in a different country every year, and provides a place where students can discuss peacebuilding with various organizations and Nobel Prize winners from around the world.

Impressions of the Summit

YACHIDA Koharu

Over these four days, I had the precious opportunity to meet and talk with a number of Nobel Peace Prize winners. In particular, during the panel discussions, I was able to think about the meaning of peace alongside other participants while listening to the prize winner’s talk about various problems around the world. At the workshop I exchanged opinions with students from over fifty different countries, and I was excited by how proactively everyone analyzed the issues of their own countries. Also, as a short-term exchange student in another city in Mexico, this was a valuable experience for me to learn about a different side of Mexico. The Yucatán Peninsula is thriving with indigenous culture, and has a completely different history, atmosphere and values system than my host city. Many university students from Merida attended the event, and it was really interesting to hear their opinions on Mexico and Japan.

OIMATSU Kyoka

Through the workshops and panel discussions, both covering a wide-ranging number of topics, I was able to deepen my understanding of the word “peace”. The most impressionable workshop I attended was on “Transforming toy guns from tools that hurt others to tools that bring peace to children”. I gained a lot from this summit, as on top of learning about the topics of the moment, I was also able to gain a new way of thinking and meet some of the youths who will become the leaders of the future across many fields.