The world situation has been very insecure and troubling. Disputes and conflicts are occurring, and some parts of the world are being trouble-plagued right at this very moment. In this hard era, giving children opportunities to think about peace and global awareness is needed more than ever.
The Japan State Organization has been working on some peace education projects. One of them is our “Blue-eyed Doll Peace Education Project.” We started the project in 2015. Our project members have visited several local elementary schools to give special classes on demand and taught students about the blue-eyed friendship doll. One of our members visited elementary schools in New York and Hawaii as well and gave classes to the local students a few years ago. Due to COVID 19, we have had to refrain from visiting schools.
We use “kamishibai”, picture-cards show, and a children’s song named "the Blue-eyed Doll" in class to draw children’s attention and teach them the importance of peace and friendship. You may have heard of the story of the “blue-eyed dolls” that came all the way to Japan from the US nearly 100 years ago. At the beginning of the 20th century, a large number of Japanese immigrants, who were under economic depression, moved to the then Kingdom of Hawaii, and to the US mainland later, dreaming of a success on foreign soil. At that time there were a huge number of immigrants who flowed into the US from various countries. As the proportion of the Japanese immigrants in working population increased, animosity against them grew among local people in fear of job crises and other issues.
Dr. Sidney Gulick, a missionary and educator, was worried about the harsh relationship between the US and Japan. He believed that children with impartial attitudes and open minds were the key to making progress toward world peace. He thought of sending American dolls to Japanese children as a token of friendship and goodwill, longing for peace.
More than 12,700 dolls in total were sent and delivered to different schools in different prefectures and cities in Japan to encourage friendship between the children of the two countries. For a long time, the blue-eyed dolls were engulfed in the turmoil of World War II and other disasters such as earthquakes, and many of the dolls were destroyed or burned. In our prefecture only one original doll named Emily remains at Sakihama Elementary School. One of our project members visited the school to see the present condition of Emily. She is still alive but getting too old and decaying. We strongly believe that we should keep the message Emily brought to us and pass it on to the younger generations to create a peaceful world.
We are now working on the re-edition of the picture cards show. Our next goal is making the English version of it. And our future goal is publishing our original picture book of “the blue-eyed doll Emily”.
Thank you for your inspiring message of connection and optimism.
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