Kato Shinichi, a journalist of action, left behind few written works. I searched for "Kato Shinichi" in the "Peace Database" of the "Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum" in my hometown of Hiroshima to see if there were any writings left by him. I found some of Kato's writings among his books and magazines.
One of them is a publication called "Creating Peaceful Coexistence." It says, "Author: Edited by Shinichi Kato," "Publisher: Earth Friendship Association," "Published: December 20, 1971," and "Number of pages: 47." I didn't know any more than that, so I went to the information room in the museum and was shown the actual book.
It seems to be a so-called self-published booklet, and the colophon says that the editor is Shinichi Kato and the publisher is Shinichi Kato. The publisher is listed as "Earthlings Friendship Association," but when I looked at the address next to it, it was the same as Kato's home address. In addition, next to the title of the book, there is a small "Not for Sale" note.
At the end of the "Biography of the Editor and Author," it says, "Currently, he is the Chairman of the World Federation Hiroshima Council, a director of the World Friendship Center, and a caretaker of the Earth Friendship Association." It seems that the Earth Friendship Association was established by Kato.
World Federation Study Group in Hawaii
In this book, Kato writes a commentary titled "Going to America to preach World Federation: World Federation Study Group Launched in Hawaii." According to the explanation at the beginning, this article was a contribution titled "Indicators of the Space Age" that was serialized in the Los Angeles Japanese newspaper "Rafu Shimpo" during Kato's three-month visit to America from August 1970, and was written for Japanese people living in America.
In addition, on his way to and from the United States, Kato stayed in Honolulu, Hawaii for five nights, where he conducted awareness-raising activities on local radio stations and in newspapers, and held lectures and round-table discussions. In mid-November 1970, he launched the World Federation Study Group in Honolulu. This also shows Kato's vigorous initiative.
In the main body of the commentary, he passionately speaks to Japanese people living in the United States about the significance of a world federation in American society. Below, we present a portion of the essay verbatim.
"American Federalism Globally"
The World Federalist Movement may seem unfamiliar to Japanese people living in the United States, but it is nothing more than a worldwide expansion of the current federal system of the United States. It also aims to reduce the burden of high taxes in the meaningless arms race and conflicts between the East and West, and it is a pressing issue that is close to home and will lead to a solution to the black problem that is currently a cancer in American society.
We are concerned that if heroic and humanitarian Americans, who escaped the old feudal society of Europe to travel to the Americas and pioneer a new frontier of freedom, do not return to the spirit of their founding and take the lead as a Christian nation in the new era of peaceful coexistence for all mankind in the world, we will be laughed at by future generations.
"American-dumb" Japanese-Americans
This may seem extremely extreme, but to us mainlanders, living in a country that lost a war like Japan, that was the first in human history to experience the atomic bomb (especially us from Hiroshima Prefecture), that has a population of over 100 million on an island nation with few resources, and that is already caught in the gap between the East and West camps and exposed to a cross-border battle for control of the system, it seems to us, with all due respect, that the American people as a whole have become "American-dazed."
For the people of America, the World Federation is not just a distant memory; it is an urgent issue for the entire human race, especially with the high tax burden and the black problem. The quickest way to reduce taxes is to strengthen the United Nations as a world federation and gradually reduce the military forces of each country, and the black problem can only be solved if the minds of people who are capable of realizing a world federation grow to the point of thinking about the unity of humanity.
(Omitted)
The world federalism movement was first advocated by nuclear physicists such as Dr. Einstein and Dr. Hideki Yukawa in response to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and in Japan, it is well known that the late Mr. Yukio Ozaki submitted a resolution to the Diet in the spring of 1946 to make the construction of a world federation Japan's national policy.
The World Federalism Construction Alliance, which is at the center of this movement in Japan, was launched in Tokyo on August 6, 1948 (the Hiroshima atomic bomb anniversary) by President Ozaki Yukio and Vice President Kagawa Toyohiko. As can be seen from this, the movement is carried out with a sense of mission based on the pledge on the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Memorial Monument: "Rest in peace, for we will not repeat the mistake."
(Omitted)
Japan had the goal of pacifism centered on the United Nations, but after experiencing a miserable defeat with its 100 million united hearts and loyalty to the emperor, it became hesitant to pursue national goals, and after the war, even the adults had no goals in life and the country simply worked hard to become an economic superpower.However, with the future looking bleak, the younger generation has no hope for the future and is turning to violent demonstrations with guerrilla sticks or to hippies and go-go gangs, and other countries are beginning to call the country an "economic animal."
The world federalism movement is the national policy of Japan, which upholds a pacifist constitution that renounces war, and it is the basic principle behind Japan's overseas development. At the same time, it will remain forever as the goal of life for the people of the world (including the people of America).
Unlike the prewar slogan of "one hundred million as one," this is a "guide to the space age" that, no matter how much we push it, will not be pushed too far and will not be fooled. This is why it was chosen as the keynote theme of the Second Religious Peace Conference. (Omitted)
Kato was concerned about the tensions between East and West during the Cold War and criticized the arms race between the two camps. At the same time, he considered the racial conflicts in American society at the time as a solution. On the other hand, he was concerned about postwar Japanese society forgetting the ideals it should uphold and focusing solely on economic activity.
The basis of these thoughts is, above all, his own experience of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. After this, Kato expanded the scope of his activities even further, taking action such as appealing to the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
(Titles omitted)
© 2021 Ryusuke Kawai
