Japanese Youth: Facing the Peace

Nowadays young people constitute the majority of population in many countries. However, engaging with young people is not only a demographic necessity — young people all over the world actively influence peace processes through diverse initiatives. As stressed in the Constitution of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the ignorance of each other’s ways and lives has been a common cause, throughout the history of mankind, of that suspicion and mistrust between the peoples of the world through which their differences have all too often broken into war. Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed. Surveying the moods of young people around the world, a foundation maintaining official relations with UNESCO, the Goi Peace Foundation, conducted a survey of young people around the world (aged 15–25) in 2021, where the respondents were asked about their perceptions of the current state of peace, their awareness of issues related to peace, about what they would like to do to contribute to peace. The article analyzes young people’s own point of view on youth participation and inclusion in peace processes and compares all the participants’ opinions with opinions of participants from Japan. The youth aged 15 to 25 make up a tenth of Japan’s population, and some young Japanese people identify themselves as the satori sedai (さとり世代) — a term first used in 2010 to describe those born around the time the economy started to slide two decades ago and characterizing the Japanese youth as having pessimistic attitudes towards the future. That is why the analysis of the values and social orientations of Japanese youth towards peace, issues related to peace, and their possible contribution to peace building as compared to those in the rest of the world is especially interesting. The article indicates that young Japanese demonstrated willingness to socialize, strengthen, and protect peace in formal and informal political platforms through various practices. It is noted that the participation of the youth, both all over the world and in Japan, in building and supporting world peace can yield substantial positive results.