Honorary visit from Marcial Jesus from Valparaiso, Chile at the Goi Peace Foundation/ May Peace Prevail on Earth International office – JAPAN

May 16th, 2023

We received an honorary visit from Mr. Marcial Jesus from Valparaiso, Chile at the Goi Peace Foundation/ May Peace Prevail on Earth International office. Marcial is practicing and teaching Aikido in his country. My colleague Taku, Takuhiro Uesugi, in the Fuji area joined and welcomed him together. They have Aikido in common and it was Marcial’s Aikido master who sent Taku an email and requested to meet Marcial.

My other colleague Tatsuru Tatsuru Nakayama also joined online and he helped us with the Spanish interpretation. He is an Aikido practitioner, too!

Marcial talked about his passion for Aikido and teaching the culture and spirit of Japan through Aikido.  Wow!

He also shared the Peace Pole planting event in November which Taku joined online. The location was the cultural center in Valparaiso, a prison during Pinochet’s dictatorship.

Many innocent people were killed, missing, and imprisoned for over 30 years. The local people want to keep the memory of this sad history and Marcial and his group decided to plant a Peace Pole as a memorial monument.   They prayed together sincerely for peace in the future in Valparaiso and Chile.

Marcial also talked about the native Chilean called “Mapuche” that he wants to make peace with the Mapuche people. He was sad over the fact that the Mapuche people do like the Chilean people because they took the legacy of Mapuche throughout the history.  He also had a Mapuche friend when he was very young, so that is another reason he wants to make peace with the Mapuche people.  We heard that Valparaiso, a famous picturesque, beautiful city has a big favela and Marcial worries himself about it. He is involved in a community project.

Marcial brought us a famous Chilean wine Casillero des Diablo, a beautiful photobook of Chile, nice postcards of Valparaiso, and a special bookmark which he made, and his girlfriend wrapped, especially.  The bookmark is written in Mapuche, Spanish, and English, and written are the words,  “May Peace Prevail On Earth” on each one.

We all had a very nice conversation and enjoyed the meeting.     We look forward to having future collaboration and keeping in touch.

Ti Kemelen Melepu Ti Mapu Mo

Che la paz prevalezca en la tierra