PNWJ News

The PNWJ Article 9 Gallery is now closed for submissions. Many thanks to those of you who contributed to the gallery –we received some really great pictures!

It will remain open for viewing and can be seen either at our Flickr site or at the original link:

http://www.graphicalphabet.com/pnwj/article9/slideshow/index.html

The gallery contains over 100 pictures related to Article 9 or peace, submitted by us, the exhibition organisers and the public. Perhaps one of yours is in there too.

Keep an eye out in the future –we may be asking for your contributions again.

Flickr site: www.flickr.com/photos/pnwj

PNWJ is proud to announce that it will be joining the list of grassroots organizations sponsoring the Fourth Annual Tokyo Peace Film Festival. The event will be held on Saturday, July 7 from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the National Olympics Memorial Youth Center in Yoyogi.

It is being organized by the Tokyo Peace Film Club, and will feature seven films covering issues of food security, the environment, weapons manufacturing, Japan's approach to war, and more.

All details about the festival, ticket purchase, etc. are available at the official website here (Japanese only).

Please note that some films will contain no English dialogue or subtitles, although a list of film titles and information about the venue may be found in English here:

PNWJ will be on hand all day at the event with a stall selling CDs and giving out promotional literature, and 25% of the day's proceeds will be donated to the Tokyo Peace Film Club.

Please come out and join the peace community in Tokyo in supporting this great event!

PNWJ is joining in with the PEACE ART exhibition to promote Article 9, and we are inviting the public to take part in our contribution. We will launch an new online gallery of Article 9-related and other images at the Artist's Reception on June 1st.

Anyone with a mobile phone (with camera) or a PC and internet connection can participate and photos can be taken anywhere.

Wherever you are – in the street, at home, on the train, in the office – you can find the number 9 somewhere. Take a picture of it and send it to our gallery. If you see the word 'peace' somewhere, take a picture of it and send it to our gallery. You might be surprised when you take a look around – peace is everywhere!

If you see something else that fits the peace/Article 9 theme, snap it and send us that too. We're also happy to take other artworks too – drawings, paintings, montages, etc.

Simple instructions:

1. Take a picture.

2. Email it to may09appear@photos.flickr.com

Detailed instructions:

1. Find your subject (the number 9, the word 'peace' or anything related).

2. Take a picture, with your mobile phone or digital camera.

3. Go to http://www.soundsphenomenal.org/pnwj/article9/access.htm (either through your browser or by scanning the QR code given below).

4. Copy the following email address: may09appear@photos.flickr.com

5. Email photo(s) to that address, with a description in the 'Subject' field.


Peaceful snapping!

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More information about the Article 9 exhibition at the PNWJ News blog

More information about Article 9

Peace Not War Japan

PNWJ will be hosting a stall at the Rhombus live show, promoted by Parties 4 Peace.

From Rhombus.co.nz:

The Rhombus sound is a seamless blend of hip-hop, soul, funk, dub and bass roots-reggae, spliced together with socially conscious lyrics.

They've forged a well-deserved reputation as one of New Zealand's most original and energetic live acts, selling out shows and festivals across the country.

Parties 4 Peace joins up with Peace Not War Japan and Drop Beats Not Bombs for a night of unforgettable dance music.

Music will range from house, techno, electro, funky beats and more. International DJs from Australia, New Zealand and Japan will be playing.

Proceeds from Parties 4 Peace are donated to various global peace projects.

PNWJ will be present at the Artists Reception for an event to launch this month-long exhibition at the Pink Cow in Shibuya.

We will have a stall at the reception on June 1st, with CDs and promotional material. We also plan to launch our own participative artwork at the event itself. More details to follow here later.

The exhibition is an artistic expression to promote Article 9 of the Japanese constitution, which prohibits the Japanese military from participating in direct conflict abroad.

Artists were invited to submit Article-9 related work in the form of paintings, digital art, drawings, collage, photography, and recycled art to be shown at the Peace exhibition for one month. They were also encouraged to include the peace symbol, the number 9, or words from the constitution in their work.

PNWJ is collaborating with Dance For Peace Japan, as part of our efforts to reach out to and collaborate with other organisations working for peace and a better world.

Dance For Peace began in Bali in 2002 where the event has been running for four years. This will be their fourth time in Japan.

Live artists from across Japan will be playing, along with DJs from Japan, Bali, Spain and Italy. There will also be a peace workshop, featuring a talk and Q & A session with Kaori Aizawa of Peace On (an organisation involved in a wide range of projects dealing with the reconstruction of Iraq).

PNWJ provided the speaker for the peace workshop and will also be present at the event, selling CDs, etc.

Learn more about Dance For Peace Japan 2007 here.

PNWJ will be at an event in support of the 'Stop Rokkasho' project, at the Pink Cow in Shibuya on May 5.

The event will be held for participants in Peace Boat's 55th Global Voyage for Peace, and features music from FUNKIST, Cyclub and DJ Koh.

PNWJ will be giving a presentation about the project and selling CDs. There will also be a presentation about Rokkasho, Japan's proposed nuclear fuel reprocessing plant.

Proceeds from the day will go towards a live music event in Rokkasho and Ryuichi Sakamoto's 'TeamGoGo!' newspaper project.

Doors open at 18:30 with the event starting at 19:00. Tickets cost ¥2000 in advance and ¥2500 on the door. Contact pbteam55[at]yahoo.co.jp for more information.

PNWJ had a stall at a Peace Conference for high school students, held at Tsukuba University in Shibuya.

The conference gathered 200 students from Aomori, Ibaraki, Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Shizuoka, Aichi and Gifu prefectures.

They reported on various peace-related activities they had undertaken (such as a field trip to a US Army Base in Tokyo), held discussion groups on a range of issues and listened to a presentation by a photojournalist (Kouriyama Souichiro) who was one of the three Japanese hostages in Iraq in April 2004.

The PNWJ Translation Team has now expanded to almost 20 members.

We are always looking for new volunteers to join the list too. If you can translate from English to Japanese or Japanese to English and would like to volunteer to help us spread our messages in both languages, email us with 'Translator' in the Subject field at info[at]pnwj.org or click here to find out more.

PNWJ took part in the annual 'Blooming Peace' event in Kunitachi, Tokyo. The event featured music, dance, book readings and Fair Trade food. We had a stall there, selling CDs and letting people know about our project.

It was headlined by Likkle Mai (ex-Dry & Heavy), and Dom of PNWJ gave a short presentation to the audience about the project. Proceeds from the event went to Friedensdorf International (Peace Village International) and Action Against Child Exploitation (ACE), with PNWJ making our first charitable donations from CD sales.

We also made a connection with a Tokyo-based peace issues discussion group called Say Peace. Visit them here.

The 'Peace Not War Japan' album was chosen by Takashi Nagakawa (Soul Flower Union) as his album of the year in Music Magazine's round-up of the best albums of 2006.

Thanks Takashi!

PNWJ had a stall selling CDs and promoting our work at the Fight For Rights V. 25 event at Shinjuku Marz.

Fight For Rights is presented by Japonicus and this event featured The Zoot 16, Dubjuana Midnight System, San Fernando Mento Patrol and DJs from Caribbean Dandy.

SFU sold CDs at a show for their new Soul Flower Acoustic Revue project. The event was held at Star Pine's Cafe in Kichijoji, Tokyo.

'The Listening Project' is a documentary film shot in 14 countries that aims to find out what the world thinks about the United States. The film crew visited Mexico, China, France, UK, Russia, Brazil, Israel, Palestine, India, Tanzania, South Africa, Afghanistan, Japan & Canada, speaking to local people in each country about their opinions of the US and 'America's undeniable global impact on the social, political and economic landscape of the planet'.

PNWJ were asked to help with finding people in Japan to give interviews. The two members of KP and Takashi Nakagawa from Soul Flower Union, both artists featured on the CD, were interviewed. Other PNWJ-related interviewees included music journalist Koichi Hanafusa, members of the Peace Boat staff and PNWJ Director Dom Pates.

After the Tokyo interviews, the film crew then travelled on to Hiroshima where they conducted interviews with hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors), amongst others.

Extracts from the crew's Japan journals can be read here, here and here (English only).

PNWJ had a stall at the Michael Franti & Spearhead show in Ebisu Liquid Room, on the Japan leg of their 'Yell Fire!' tour.