May, 13, 2005

JAPAN : Chechen supporting meetings in Tokyo and Kumamoto

On 7 May, Saturday, in two Japanese cities, the Chechen supporters meetings were held. In the Japanese capital Tokyo , co-organizers, the Citizen Peace Funds (CPF) and the Editorial Room of Chechen-News held a series of meetings on the theme: "WHAT IS HAPPENING IN CHECHNYA", and this time two reporters told about their experiences before about 60 participants in the meeting.

Miss Kaori SHU, a young supporter of the refugees told about her activity in Tokyo , supporting the families of Kurd refugees. According to her, the Japanese governmental policy concerning the refugees is a typical hypocrisy. On the one hand, the Japanese government contributing to UNHCR the largest amount of yearly allotment however receives only 10 - 15 refugees per year! Moreover, there are cases of offences against UNHCR recognition of the refugee status, extraditing the refugees to their country. Miss SHU made a visit to the Kurd families recently extradited from Japan to Turkey . In Turkey , Miss SHU got in touch not only with the Kurd people but also with the Chechen refugees. Here in Japan , not much information is provided on Chechen refugees or Diasporas in Turkey . Therefore, the participants in the meeting asked her a lot of questions.

The second speaker was Mr. Kosuke Shamil-Khadsi TSUNEOKA, a well known Japanese Muslim journalist, who also visited Turkey as well as Near East and European countries. Mr. TSUNEOKA gave some additional information on Chechen refugees in Turkey and told about his recent visit to Switzerland and France , introducing some photo shots on Chechen Peace March Paris - Strasbourg , which he joined together with the Reverend Junsei TERASAWA from Buddhist School Nipponzan Myouhouji.

Mr. Tadashi AOYAMA, the representative of CPF mentioned great efforts of the Rev. TERASAWA for the cause of peace and against Chechen war, and informed the audience about the recent "incident" on the Polish-Ukrainian border. According to the information of the Norwegian news-site Forum18, the Rev. TERASAWA was refused to re-enter Ukraine and his effective double-entry visa was cancelled. Documentary filmmaker Mr. Kazuo OKADA introduced the audience with the draft text of the letter to President Yushenko and Prime Minister Timoshenko, asking for retraction of the refusal concerning TERASAWA's visa. Mr. OKADA mentioned that the Rev. TERASAWA and his Buddhist students never violated the national law of Ukraine . He just sharply criticized Russian war policy in Chechnya . At the end of the meeting, Mr. AOYAMA of CPF mentioned that from January to May, 2005, once a month in Tokyo they organized Chechen supporting meetings with many new participants. In case the Russian President Vladimir PUTIN comes on a visit to Japan , we will welcome him with a mass meeting against the Chechen War and demand of him immediate termination of his criminal war.

The second meeting was held in Kumamoto-city on the southern island Kyushu . The audience at the Town International Hall was shown a Russian feature film “NOCHEVALA TOUCHKA ZOLOTAYA” (The Golden Clouds Spent the Night) directed by the Ingush film-director S. MAMILOV and Chechen animated cartoon film "WHEN THE SPRING COMES" made by Timur OZDAMIR and Zara IMAEVA. The famous photographer and documentary filmmaker Mr. Sei-ichi MOTOHASHI demonstrated his photo slides on Chechen refugees and Diasporas in Kazakhstan . About 300 people participated in the meeting, and nearly 30% of them were teenagers. The initiator of this event Mrs. Nobuko KYO (KAN Shin-ja), a well known Japanese Korean writer who also visited Kazakhstan last year, told about her Chechen friends in their second homeland. She also noted the importance of cultural survival for the Chechen nation confronting the brutal war for already 10 years. She appealed to the audience to support the cultural initiatives of the Chechen Diasporas in Kazakhstan , as well as Zara IMAEVA's ongoing children video production "The Neighbors" in the Chechen language in Baku , Azerbaijan .

At the meeting, nearly one hundred teenagers of Kumamoto took part in the discussion on the Chechen war as well as on World War 2, when many Japanese elder people could not come against the militarism and war. They spoke about the importance of what is possible for themselves on peace keeping and solidarity with the Chechen people. They expressed strong desire to meet with the Chechen youth some day in liberated democratic and peaceful Chechnya !

Text prepared by WATANABE Chiaki,

ChechenWatch

13.05.05

http://chechenpress.co.uk/english/news/2005/05/13/02.shtml