Two years ago, while I was attending university, a professor invited me to go see a documentary film about Article 9 of the Constitution. It was a film viewing event with a discussion session, held at a stylish movie theater in Roppongi, Tokyo, where I watched the film with international students.

The film was directed by Jean Junkermann and was titled "The Constitution of Japan," and was organized by the NGO Peace Boat. What piqued my interest was the director's own talk after the film and the questions from the international students.

After watching the movie, we also had a chance to have a group discussion. Since there were many English-speaking international students, someone had to speak in both English and Japanese in each group, so I spoke in the group I was in.

I don't remember what we talked about anymore, but I do remember the conversation we had after the event.

Rika, a Peace Boat staff member who was the MC for the event, spoke to me:
"Thank you for your wonderful comments, Akira. Your interpretation was excellent. I am a staff member of the international NGO Peace Boat and will be the interpretation coordinator for the next 54th cruise. In exchange for interpreting, would you like to travel around the world for free for three months?"

I was invited like this, but I had never heard of the name "Peace Boat" before, and the idea of ​​going around the world sounded too good to be true, so I declined and just exchanged emails. Even if this wasn't a scam and I could really go around the world in three months, I'm a university student and can't take such a long vacation.

Two months later, the International Christian University I attended held a forum called "Leadership of the United Nations System and Global Civil Society - A New Frontier in Global Public Policy (commonly known as ICRA)" and Rika from Peace Boat was invited to the forum. It was then that I realized that it was a proper international NGO. And I was invited back there again. As three months was too long for me, I thought I would just go for the Spanish speaking parts, that is, for one month. The period coincided perfectly with my summer vacation, so I accepted.

Just one month later, I took the interpretation test to see if I could interpret on the ship. It lasted four hours, and involved translating from Spanish to Japanese, translating from Japanese to Spanish, simultaneous interpretation, a general knowledge test, and finally an interview. It was four hours that took all my energy, but I passed.

Three months before boarding the ship, I started weekly interpretation study sessions. I formed a team with 14 fellow interpreters and underwent various training sessions while considering the onboard conditions on a ship carrying 700 people. My work on board mainly involves translating the ship's newspaper, interpreting lectures by the pilot (guest on board), MCing events, and interpreting for English and Spanish classes. At each port of call, I accompany tours and interpret for the guides.

As you can see from the story so far, my job is not just interpreting, so my job title is communication coordinator, or CC for short. The other CCs were all "strong" in many ways. There were 11 English CCs and 3 Spanish CCs, including me. Now we have become friends who I can trust like brothers. They come not only from Japan, but also from India, Taiwan, the United States, Mexico, and Chile. One week before boarding the ship, we had a joint camp, where I became good friends with about 20 English and Spanish teachers.

Finally, the day came when the ship departed from Yokohama. I didn't board it because I was supposed to board halfway through the journey. However, the departure ceremony was quite moving. I imagined that the departure ceremony must have been held like this when Japanese people emigrated to South America in the past, and I was moved. Family and friends threw ribbons to the departing group, and it felt like those who held ribbons were connected to each other for a short time. It was a special moment. I said my final farewell to my friends, whom I would meet in a month, and returned home.

A month later, I flew ahead of the ship before it docked in Barcelona, ​​Spain. There, waiting for me were members of the Peace Boat, who, as the name suggests, had already arrived. One of them was Leo, a Japanese man who had lived in Mexico for a long time, and the other was Aya, a passionate Japanese woman who grew up in Spain. They would later become my coworkers and close friends, but I'll talk about that in the next article.

At this time, I was really looking forward to meeting someone. They were two other Spanish CCs and Spanish teachers I met during my interpreter training. One of the CCs was Meg, a Japanese who had lived in Panama for a long time, and the other was Gutierrez Minoru, a Japanese-Mexican. His father is Mexican and his mother is Japanese, and he was born and raised in Guadalajara, Mexico. From the beginning of the CC training, I thought, "I smell the same as him!" He works as an interpreter in Mexico, and this is his third time on the Peace Boat. He must really love this voyage. He's a playful 21-year-old, but there's something calm about him. And one more person! Cesar Kamata, a Japanese-Peruvian. He's on the ship as a Spanish teacher, and even now, together with him, I volunteer to teach Japanese to Japanese children about twice a month. They are such interesting people.

After I arrived on the ship and had a group hug with the other CC friends, I put my luggage down and immediately set off for the "Barcelona Soccer Tour". I did this first job with Minoru. Minoru was the main translator and I supported him.

The tour consisted of visiting the FC Barcelona studio and museum with about 20 other participants, and then playing soccer (futsal) with Paraguayan, Guatemalan, and Moroccan immigrants living in Spain. Minoru and I acted as interpreters for the MC and for the exchange between the local people and the Japanese participants.

It occurred to me at this point that this job is well suited to Japanese people. The job of a CC is not just to interpret "words", but to convey emotions and actions to the other person, so I thought that if I could use the "ability to understand both cultures" that Japanese people have as a weapon, I could do a very good job. I heard later that Japanese people are often assigned to the job of Spanish CC.

*If you are interested in Peace Boat, please click here>> Japanese / English

© 2008 Akira Uchimura