The Awareness of "Japan as a Country in the World"

(Oita Godo Newspaper, February 7th 2009, evening paper page 3)

"Japan has plenty of goods and commodities to be sent over, but does not have enough people". The 'Association to Save Indochina Refugees' was established in 1979 by Ms. Soma Yukika when she was 67 years old.

After that, with the notion of "propagating Japanese's warm hearts to the world" in mind, she took actions to support the refugees from more than fifty countries including Cambodia and Pakistan, as well as to abolish the usage of land mines.

She is the third daughter of Governor Oosaki Yukio (who was well-known as 'The God of Constitutional Government) and was born in Tokyo. During her school days, she was a kind of motorcycle gang membe. "I was the first female gangster", she said jokingly.

Being a relative of Japan's Prime Minister Aso, her funeral ceremony was held at the Constitutional Government Memorial Hall, where she was remembered nostalgically as "a rather talkative lady who always makes cookies for us".

Her predecessor, Ms. Yanase Fusako, recalled that Ms. Soma Yukika had always called to her house every morning at 7 o'clock to ask things like "There is this article in Japan Times, what do you think?". She always ask opinions about world foreign affairs. According to Ms. Yanase, she had done things with the consciousness that "Japan is a country in the world", probably because her father had always reminded her that "the real stage of life is always in the future". Ms. Yanase also said that it is sad that there is no more phone call from her in the morning.

In her last moments, at her house in Kabuizawa, she was surrounded by her family. During the funeral ceremony, her audio interview in 2002 was replayed and her energetic voice was heard in the Memorial Hall. "What kind of world do we want to have for your children in the future? I think we should think of what should we do to shape the world that we want........There is no age of retirement, and we should be active until the day of our death". Even though she already exceeded 90 years old, she still travelled back and forth to various countries in the world, just like what she said in the interview.

Comment: I personally admired her because she was really passionate about a cause and she actually went all the way following her mission in life. She is steadfast and forward-looking, she is a strong and wise woman. She has made the world a better place to live simply by being her true self and fulfilling her dreams.

NUGROHO Katarina Marsha Utama

Indonesia

APM2, Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University