I received my copy of Peshawar-kai Journal (ペシャワール会報) No. 168 (PDF link) this month and would like to share Dr Nakamura's words from it, focusing on his main message.
“Dr Tetsu Nakamura Archive” was originally published in The Nishinippon Shimbun on 8 July 2014.
Reference: 会報_ペシャワール会
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It has been 30 years since Dr Tetsu Nakamura, 67, began working in the field. He serves as the local representative of the Peshawar-kai, a non-governmental organisation providing humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan, and as Executive Director of Peace Japan Medical Services, or PMS.
He began with medical assistance for people affected by Hansen’s disease in Peshawar, Pakistan, and then expanded his activities to include digging wells, distributing food during aerial bombardments, and constructing irrigation canals to restore farmland.
We spoke with Dr Nakamura about the path he has followed, focusing on how he has continued to engage with both people and nature in a land devastated by conflict.
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Q: What has been the driving force behind your work?
Perhaps it is the Japanese spirit—the idea expressed in the Analects: 'To see what is right and not do it is a lack of courage.' Once I had started, I could no longer turn back.
In the past, people understood when you referred to something like the *Analects*.
Everyone believed that a person in need should not be abandoned, and that doing so was good and admirable. However, people today do not ask very much about one’s motives, and even when I explain them, they often find them difficult to understand. Perhaps Japanese feelings have changed.
Our starting point has always been: ‘It is precisely where no one else will go that we are needed.’
I know only Kyushu. I do not even know my home prefecture, Fukuoka, particularly well. So, rather than calling what we do "international cooperation," it would be more appropriate to describe it as regional cooperation between Kyushu and eastern Afghanistan.
Our approach is the opposite of that of an international non-governmental organisation. In that sense, it was beneficial that we remained in one place and continued working steadily in eastern Afghanistan.
Had we established branches in places such as Somalia and Cambodia, like an international NGO, we might have been swayed by global standards centred on Europe and the United States, and become unable to carry out projects suited to local needs.”
Q: What has Afghanistan shown you?
Afghanistan is undergoing climate change on a scale humanity has never experienced before. Its food self-sufficiency rate, which was once 100 per cent, has fallen to around half because of prolonged conflict and the severe drought that became evident from 2000 onward.
Because farmers account for 90 per cent of the population, this is a matter of life and death.
What are we going to do about food self-sufficiency? The exploitation of nature has reached its limit. This is no time for Japan to remain excessively devoted to Europe and the United States, and to the idea of leaving Asia to join the West; the harmful effects remain considerable.
Although there is no longer room for economic growth or further investment, Japan is still possessed by a ‘religion of growth.’
People say that nuclear power is dangerous, yet they are unwilling to relinquish their comfortable lives and continue expanding their desire to consume. It is like injecting an appetite stimulant into someone whose stomach is already full.
At the very least, we should reduce consumption and pause—not in pursuit of growth, but in order to maintain our present condition.
There are not so many things in this world that are truly important. We should realise that being poor does not necessarily mean being unhappy.
Q: How have you maintained security?
Once, while we were building a clinic, we were attacked by an armed group carrying rifles.
We had a machine gun for self-defence, but we never fired back. If you kill someone, you will be killed in return. We knew what a cycle of retaliation would be. We have consistently adhered to non-violence and tried not to make enemies. We have maintained relationships with people whether they belong to the government, the opposition or the Taliban. It can also be said that Article 9 of Japan’s Constitution has protected our activities. Afghans know about Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and they respect Japan as a ‘peaceful nation’ that did not send military forces overseas.
After the terrorist attacks in the United States, Japan, as an ally of the United States, which bombed Afghanistan, conducted refuelling operations in the Indian Ocean. This also became widely known in Afghanistan, but uniformed members of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces did not enter the country. Had that happened, what would have become of us?
More than 20 Western countries participated in the war in Afghanistan.
The United States military is finally withdrawing, but this is a defeat. It leaves behind confusion and hostility towards foreign countries.
Q: How have you remained healthy enough to endure such demanding work?
By working and sweating. Since beginning the river projects, I have walked 20,000 to 30,000 steps a day.
I also go to bed early and rise early. Because we conserve electricity, we wake and sleep with the lights off. I eat until I am about 80 per cent full. As long as you eat what ordinary local people eat, you will be fine. The diet consists mainly of beans, vegetables and fruit. We are fortunate if we can eat meat once a week.
Since the irrigation canals were completed, we have also eaten fish such as trout and Japanese dace.
Because we sweat heavily while working, salt is essential. The modern Japanese emphasis on reducing salt intake is completely inappropriate for us.
Q: What initiatives will you pursue from now on?
The Green Ground Project (緑の大地計画), which we began in 2003, is now securing living space for 650,000 farmers residing across 16,500 hectares in one part of the grain-producing region of eastern Afghanistan. In this comprehensive rural reconstruction project, while respecting the region’s natural conditions and culture, we have adopted traditional civil engineering and river management techniques from Kyushu, Japan, which have been used since the Edo period and are still used today despite recurring droughts and floods.
For the time being, I want to establish one successful model for reconstruction.
Then, although I do not know how many more years it will take, I hope to spread that reconstruction model throughout Afghanistan as soon as possible.
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