Straight Talking
The following is an excerpt from a 2005 interview with el flaco, conducted by Art Van de Lay, our man in Fukuoka.El Flaco: I was really on that ship. You can even click on the picture of the pool crowd above and play Where's Aidan?.
Art Van de Lay: Indeed. I'll take your word for it. So give me a bit of background about this peace thingy.
EF: It all started in 2002. Actually it started a long time before that, but I first went on the ship in 2002, which was the 37th cruise. The PeaceBoat leaves from and returns to Tokyo, doing a full circle of the world in about 3 months, and stopping in 15-20 countries along the way.
The priviledge of sailing around like this for 3 months would normally set you back about $10,000, but luckily there is always a need for volunteers and paid staff, if you can make yourself useful.
AVDL: So it's just a world cruise for rich old Japanese people?
EF: Not quite. It's actually an NGO that does various volunteer and charity activities in Japan and the countries it visits, often with partner NGOs in those countries.
AVDL: Something like Greenpeace?
EF: Not really. The environmment is only one (and maybe a small one?) of several issues that PeaceBoat is involved in. Also, PeaceBoat is a lot more soft-core than Greenpeace - I didn't get a chance to board a moving whaling vessel from a speedboat at any point.
AVDL: So what do these peace freaks actually do?
EF: Well, it's a bit of a mish-mash. A lot of people pay a lot of money to float around on this thing, so the customers need to be pleased. Hence there is as much tourism as activism onboard and ashore.
AVDL: An excuse to go travelling, see some third world countries, and pat yourself on the back, eh?
EF: No, to be fair, there are a lot of worthy activities going on too, it's just that the funding comes from passengers, so there's got to be a certain amount of pandering to their wishes - and being a Japanese organisation, this means a lot of tours, flags, and shopping too.
AVDL: What kind of worthy activities?
EF: Well, where to start? Firstly, local people from each country come aboard a week or a few weeks before the ship arrives, and give lectures or workshops focussing on their countries' problems or solutions. I think a major part of PeaceBoat's activity is simply educating Japanese people about the world around them - opening their eyes to urgent world problems, and getting rid of a lot of ingrained stereotypes, and giving Japanese people a new perspective on their own country and their place in the world. Japan is still quite an insulated country.
AVDL: So you think it's primarily for the benefit of Japanese people?
EF: Maybe, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
AVDL: And that's it?
EF: No no, of course not. There are various volunteer activities in each country, where the passengers and staff physically help out local NGOs. Another section of the PeaceBoat delivers supplies like used bicycles and computers to some of the countries we visit. Another aspect is simply cultural exchange - Japanese and local people hang around with each other for a day or two and get to know each other a bit better. It's nothing revolutionary, but sometimes the simple and most obvious things are overlooked you know. I definitely changed my opinion of people and places several times during my trips.
AVDL: But you can't get a comprehensive impression of a place or it's people over two days! And how much can you achieve by helping out for a day and leaving again?
EF: It's limited of course, but there are other longer-term projects too. As I said, delivering supplies, (admittedly small) financial aid, and ongoing activities from Tokyo, whether the boat is cruising or not. Things like protest campaigns and demonstrations, often together with other NGOs. Even on the boat there are longer-term projects. One of the most impressive was called the IS (International Student) program. Students from conflict areas came aboard and lived, studied, ate, drank, played, made presentations, slept, did everything together. On the 37th Cruise, there were a Palestinian, an Israeli, a Bosnian, a Serbian, and a Catholic and a Protestant from Northern Ireland. It was amazing. I mean they obviously chose people who were pretty open-minded and not too fundamentalist, so from the start they all seemed pretty understanding of each other, but you could see the restraint they were excercising once the discussions got a little complicated. It was great for us too, to learn about these huge conflicts from the horses' mouths.
AVDL: Sounds good. So what were you doing onboard, hotshot?
EF: Well, I was a volunteer English teacher. 99% of the people on board (apart from the Russian/Ukrainian crew) were Japanese. Regardless of whether they were there to save the world or see the Pyramids, a lot of people needed to pick up some English or Spanish before wandering around helplessly in places from Libya to Vancouver.
AVDL: Hmmm, the usual English conversation job then?
EF: Yeah, but you're on a boat with hundreds of interesting people travelling the world. The atmosphere is very different from the daily urban grind, and most of the people who choose to go on something like this are a little bit "different" already. So, the classes quickly developed their own personality, and from then on things got a bit surreal - but in a very good way. I went onboard three times though, and each time was a little bit different. The second and third times I was teaching a special course for students of another program called the "Global University". These students were studying world issues (in Japanese) full-time onboard, something like a semester of university. But it's not much use learning about all this stuff if you can't communicate at all beyond your own country, so we did a course specifically for discussing such difficult topics in English, even if your level is not up to scratch.
The last time was particularly satisfying, because I got to write a draft textbook for the course beforehand.
AVDL: Fascinating. But enough about you, show us some pictures.
At this point el flaco became misty-eyed, started ranting incoherently about his travels in a pirate's accent, and the interview was terminated. Our intrepid reporter managed to squeeze some photos from him before leaving the room unnoticed.
Back to Travel
There's also the real PeaceBoat site, of course.
PEACEBOAT HIGHLIGHTS:
37th Cruise
DepartureShanghai
Danang, Vietnam
Singapore
Maldives
Safaga, Egypt
Suez Canal
COMING SOON:
Port Said, Egypt
Athens, Greece
Dubrovnik, Croatia
Tripoli, Libya
Bilbao, Spain
London, England
Amsterdam, Holland
Oslo, Norway
Fjords, Norway
Belfast, N. Ireland
Azores, Portugal
Havana, Cuba
Acajutla, El Salvador
Acapulco, Mexico
Vancouver, Canada
Petropavlovsk, Russia
37th Cruise
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