Sunday, January 8, 2012
A special message from Princess Kaoru Nakamaru of Japan
The granddaughter of the Meiji Emperor, Princess Kaoru Nakamaru spent her early childhood in the Forbidden Castle in China. While at Columbia University and in graduate school, she furthered her research into international politics and since 1970, as a journalist, has interviewed kings and presidents, prime ministers and business people from many countries, and has given speeches, written books, and appeared on television as a commentator on international political affairs. In 1973, she was acclaimed in the U.S. magazine, Newsweek, as the “World’s No.1 interviewer,” and the Washington Post described her as “one of those rare women in the world with an outstanding international sensitivity.”
Later, she was producer, director, and interviewer of her own Japan/U.S. talk show, for which she traveled to war-torn areas around the world and carried out positive discussions with the heads of state of those countries. Among those were Colonel Gadhafi of Libya and then-president of Iraq, Saddam Hussein - figures that were considered hostile by the West. Nakamaru even covered the frontlines during the Iran-Iraq War (1980-88) and video taken of it was shown to President Hussein who suggested that the war be immediately halted. The images of her broadcast on TV pressing President Hussein with the question “Why is this war being continued?” and asking Colonel Gadhafi, “Are you really a terrorist?” drew strong reactions. From those experiences, she exerted her energy into “personal diplomacy,” serving as a go-between among warring countries, using her own funds.
In order to finance her “personal diplomacy,” she bears all expenses. Kaoru’s network of contacts include many “big names” of whom the staff at TV stations say “Even with our connections, there is no way we can approach these people,” and this is linked to the fact that Kaoru, who is not affiliated with any organization, travels the world at her own expense and as a private citizen. Saddam Hussein, Moammar Gadhafi, top North Korean leaders, and other important figures that western journalists are unable to meet, talk with her-- the main reason being “Princess Nakamaru is not a person who is moved by personal motives and so we considered a meeting with her.”
In response to her personal diplomacy Kaoru established the “International Affairs Institute for World Peace” in New York in 1985, and in 1991, the “Following the Sun Association” was organized for people aspiring toward peace. In doing so, royalty and presidents from various countries as well as cultural figures signed their names to the statement, “I endorse all of your activities,” and these people have been welcomed as advisers and special members. Accordingly, this began in earnest a movement of enlightenment in which the realization of a “one world” policy where the “path of life” is based on mutual understanding and trust, and not on a “one world” policy where the “path of power” is based on military power and tension. Since her days as an interviewer, she has so far traveled to as many as 186 countries.
Nakamaru’s aim is for a “world peace through human renaissance. Wealth, fame, power do not make humans happy, as true happiness is borne from a heart filled with love, harmony, and peace. When there is peace within the hearts of each person, from VIPs to average citizens, then world peace is realized. The phrase ”one world” mistakenly conjures up a religious movement, but Nakamaru has absolutely no religion ties. Nakamaru believes in a religion of her own, but does not belong to any group, saying that “The world transcends all the many religions, races, ideologies so there cannot be just one."
As for her personal life, in 1966 she married Tadao Nakamaru, an actor who worked with Toshiro Mifune. She has a son and a daughter.
In addition, she has maintained a close friendship with South Korea through its former prime minister, Kim Jong-Pil, and with North Korea through the late Kim Il Sung as well as Kim Yong Sun the Secretary of North Korea’s Worker Party (who died in 2003 in a car accident), and has strived to improve relations between Japan and both Koreas as a bridge between the Japanese and Korean governments by bringing about the temporary return of a Japanese woman while at the same time acting as a mediator in bringing about a summit meeting between South and North Korea.