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Hello, everyone. I am Wanami. I would like to thank Meguro UNESCO Association for inviting me here to enjoy music with you.
Since this is a peace concert, let me talk about peace. UNESCO is an organization of the United Nations and as it stands for UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, it works on issues related to education, science and culture. Education-wise, it helps the people all over the world to study and conduct research. Science-wise, I may not have to explain because you already understand what is meant by science when you hear a story about space travel or an extraterrestrial rock found on Earth. Culture is more difficult to explain. I am Japanese, but my heart is half-European. I started to play the violin at the age of four, and I like European music. I have many friends in Europe. I like to speak in a European language. When I go to Europe, I feel very relaxed. Europe consists of many countries including the Republic of Bulgaria, where sumo wrestler Koto-ousyu was born. Each country has its own culture inherited from a distant past, which is difficult for people from other cultures to understand. For example, the languages of neighboring countries like China and Korea are very different from the Japanese language and cannot be understood by Japanese people. If all the people in the world spoke the same language it would be convenient, but we would have a problem if the Japanese language disappeared. People in any country would be annoyed if their native languages were gone. It is important for all the people in the world to respect other people’s languages and cultures.
Lately, there have been terrorist suicide attacks carried out in Iraq. Some people in the country do not like American culture to be imposed. Some of them would rather die than have it imposed on them. Culture is not something to be imposed on, but to be understood and respected by people who have different cultures.
World Heritage is one of the important programs of UNESCO. I think the importance of World Heritage lies in making a country’s heritage a world treasure so that more people can cherish it. The violin I am holding now belongs to me but many people in the world have used it carefully. I hope many people in the world will use it in the same way after my death. It is important for everyone to cherish everything in the world. Above all, life is most important. You should never take away other people’s lives. Any life is important; be it yours or anyone else’s. Suicide terrorism is the last thing to be considered. I especially hope young people to realise that all the things on earth belong to everyone.
To make one more comment, when you throw away something, you should think twice. It might be still good. Someone might want to use it. These days, I think peace can be realized when we value, care for and do little things one by one

.- Yukio Okusawa is responsible for the wording of this summary