Intercultural education from a peace perspective : The historical perception of international students and world peace

The number of international students is rapidly increasing at Japanese universities in recent years and more than ninety percent of those students are coming from Asian countries. According to the policy of the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, the international cooperation and mutual understanding between Japan and foreign countries will be promoted through students' exchange. However, the international program on campus is still experimental and the international understanding is far from the expectation. In this paper, I introduce my Japanese Studies classes which have been designed for newcomer international students to give them the basic information about Japan and Japanese society and I try to examine their opinions about the relationship between Japan and their home country. Many of the international students from Asian countries have addressed that the war time experiences are the most symbolic and memorable events between two countries. On the other hand, not many Japanese students are aware of that history of war and its aggression. Having many international students cannot bring better relationship with other countries, and we all know that we have to make efforts to understand each other. We have to recognize the importance of intercultural understanding and this will be achieved by acknowledging the varied cultural and social background of people and their way of thinking. My conclusion is that the adaptation of a peace perspective in intercultural education is a key to develop the international understanding for us and to live together peacefully in this global world