Drawing Hope is a trans-local peace project that delivers messages of hope through children’s artwork, fostering intergenerational dialogue.
Friends of Northeast Asia Children's Art Exhibition Organizing Committee
南北コリアと日本のともだち展実行委員会
Japan
“Friends of Northeast Asia: Children’s Art Exhibition (“Tomodachi-Ten” in Japanese)” is aiming at promoting peace in Northeast Asia.
We exhibit paintings drawn by children in Japan (Japanese and Koreans living in Japan called “Zainichi Koreans”), the Republic of Korea (South Korea), and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) at one venue. They know each other through the paintings and exchange friendship messages with their “future friends” who will build peace together.
We started the activity in 2001 and have held exhibitions in Tokyo, Seoul, and Pyongyang. Also, children in Yanji, China, joined us in 2010. We share the paintings with our partners all around Japan for the exhibitions. Children participate in the exchange camps and workshops as far as they can visit each region and establish face-to-face relationships.
If we are interested in each other , accept and respect our differences, and learn from history, that will be the key to the new future. We encourage as many children in Northeast Asia as possible to meet and make friends.
Since 2001, we have been holding an drawing exhibition of children in Japan and the Korean Peninsula.
We dream that this exchange of drawings and messages will develop into actual meetings and interactions someday in the future.
The children's drawings give us hope for peace.
-Rev. Toshimasa Yamamoto, Chairperson, Friends of Northeast Asia Children's Art Exhibition Organizing Committee (Japan)