Photo/Illutration The Okinawa Peace Link Project’s website supports online peace education.

NAHA--A tour guide network’s website is teaching students about the horrors of war and the value of peace after school trips to Okinawa Prefecture were canceled because of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The Okinawa Peace Link Project website was jointly set up by six civic groups that have offered guided tours to sites related to the Battle of Okinawa and U.S. military bases in the southern island prefecture.

The website introduces educational content offered by the groups, including the Okinawa Peace Network (OPN) and the Okinawa Prefecture Tourism Volunteer Guide Association.

Online sessions include lectures by war survivors as well as guides to the Cornerstone of Peace memorial inscribed with the names of war victims and the Konpaku Memorial Tower, which is said to be the oldest cenotaph of that kind in the prefecture.

The novel coronavirus has continued to spread across the prefecture since April, and peace group members have had fewer opportunities to serve as tour guides.

With their time running out, the aging survivors of the war are feeling increasingly vexed by the missed opportunities to pass down their experiences.

In addition, groups of mainly elderly members couldn’t give lectures and guides to students after their trips to the prefecture were canceled.

Gen Kitaueda, 38, director-general of the OPN whose supporters include those in their 20s through 70s, called on other groups in the prefecture to create the website to give students in other prefectures a chance to learn about peace.

The OPN also gained the cooperation of students from the University of the Ryukyus.

Kitaueda wants each school to communicate with a group of its choice to create a peace education program that fits its needs.

“With the coronavirus pandemic raging when we have reached the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II, I had a sense of crisis that students could be robbed of opportunities for peace education,” Kitaueda said. “We want it to be a project that connects those who want to learn with those who want to share.”

Noriko Takamine, 72, a member of the volunteer guide association, said 818 schools have canceled peace education sessions offered by the organization since March.

“This is an effort that gives us hope, especially when some storytellers say it has become their purpose in life to share their experiences. We want to develop new peace education programs,” she said.

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