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The 6th History Concert for adolescents and young adults in Japan was held for two days starting from November 21, 2012. This was the NAHF's first History Concert held in Japan, the previous ones having been held in Korea starting from last year as education and discussion channels through which to communicate on history with younger generations. We as organizers were worried and concerned about this event during preparation, what with the tension intensifying between Korea and Japan over Japan's inappropriate comments on 'comfort women' and particularly Abe Shinzo's winning of the LDP presidential election that would add to the increasingly rightward shift in Japanese society. However, as our concerns were outweighed by the voice of Japanese society that it was a good time to provide adolescents and young adults in Japan with an opportunity to better understand and consider historical issues between Korea and Japan, we proceeded with the event. After many complications, this event was finally held on the theme 'Korea and Japan, For the Next 100 Years beyond the Past 100 Years' for Korean students within Japan, Japanese youths, and Japanese citizens. Let me look back on this event and summarize it as follows.

Lecture and Debate for Japanese Youths in their 20s and 30s

The first day of the event in Japan consisted of lecture and debate for Japanese youths. There are what we call conscientious citizens and intellectuals of Japan who have been interested in Korea-Japan issues, but most of them were born around the time of WWII, now in their 60s or 70s. They have always actively participated in study sessions, and continued exchange and cooperation with Korea while maintaining keen interest in historical issues between Korea and Japan. While applauding them for their energetic activities, I have wished that there were younger generations who would carry on with what they had been doing. This was what motivated me to plan an event that would engage younger generations of Japan in their 20s or 30s who participate in campaigns expressing their concerns about the recent territorial conflicts in East Asia prompted by Dokdo and Senkaku or have interest in Korea-Japan relations. To help organize this event, Peace Boat, a Japanese organization founded to deal with controversial content in government-approved history textbooks in the 1980s, took on the role of attracting participants. Peace Boat is well known for their activities for settlement of the past history between Korea and Japan and for a shared perception of history and their active alliance with a variety of NGOs in Asia in relation to their activities. Peace Boat was initiated to seek reconciliation and peace by launching a 'Peace Boat,' as their title indicates, to visit the countries affected by Japan's wars of aggression and meet the victims, and conduct related education activities and other exchange activities. In particular, since its foundation in 1982, sending the Japanese government a message calling their attention to their wrong historical conceptions in answer to Japanese textbook controversies, Peace Boat has organized up to 80 voyages, each lasting for 3 months. While most of its members are over 50 now, Peace Boat is a large NPO (Non-Profit Organization) that still remains active across the nation, which is rare in Japan, trying to engage younger generations of Japan in their activities with keen interest.

Peace Boat has a variety of groups engaged in activities for historical settlement and reconciliation with Korea, Japan and other Asian countries. With another voyage scheduled in coming December, Peace Boat found this lecture and debate to be a good opportunity. The comments from some of the participants in this event included: 'I liked how many of the young participants in this event were very active in participation and discussion, unlike young Japanese these days who seldom express themselves in lectures,' 'It was a great learning opportunity for me to learn about situations in Korea directly from those from Korea,' and 'This is the first gathering of so many youths that I have seen in a very long time where they talk about historical conception issues.' Although these comments came from only a fraction of the participants, they were enough for me to see that more and more people in younger generations of Japan are showing interest in Korea-Japan relations and historical issues, and that they are also feeling this change positively. At the meeting that followed the end of the event, serious discussion about the issues between Korea and Japan on Dokdo and history continued.

Lecture for in Tokyo Korean School Students and Teachers

On the second day, a lecture was given to 500 students and teachers of Tokyo Korean School. The speaker was University of Seoul professor Chung Jae-jeong (former president of the Northeast Asian History Foundation), who spoke on 'The History of Korea-Japan Relations as Viewed in Kyoto,' using the sites in Kyoto, the old capital of Japan, as examples to explain how close the relationship between Korean and Japan had been. In his lecture, Professor Chung noted that although Korea and Japan were in conflict with each other today over such issues as Dokdo and the Japanese military sexual slavery, the two countries had maintained active mutual exchange on both positive and negative sides, stressed that the thoughts of Tokyo Korean School students living in Japan would be important for future Korea-Japan relations, and advised them to take more interest in history.

Most importantly, there were exhibits on display prior to the lecture which offered a glance into historical issues in East Asia and the history of the Korean-Japanese for about 500 students to see. It wasn't easy for those 500 students and teachers participating in the event to understand the 2,000 year-history of exchange between Korea and Japan in a brief period of time, but they expressed their impression of it, how seeing the sites connected to Korea remaining in 'Kyoto,' a place for any resident in Japan to visit one time or another, helped them feel closer to Korea. They also shared how they had decided to start making efforts to continue to learn 'history' with interest in their life ahead, not just 'history' as a subject in school, And the principal and teachers of Tokyo Korean School said that this event had been a very meaningful time to the students and that they hoped to see more of these educational activities continuing in the future.

'History Concert' is a Place for Future Generations to Share Historical Perception

Although events targeting adolescents or young adults do not show tangible results immediately, their significance may lie in helping younger generations gain a proper understanding of the history that has shaped us into what we are and inspire mature civil consciousness with understanding and consideration for others instead of self-centered and nationalistic views of history in their future endeavors of leading Korea-Japan relations in the 21st-century. In particular, given the emphasis placed on interactive educational events like History Concert instead of one-way education, the significance will be enhanced further,
We are using History Concert as an opportunity for youths of future generations to continue to attempt at cross-border communications. And it has convinced me that given such continued attempts, a peaceful future wouldn't be far away.