Two Years Since Dr. Tetsu Nakamura’s Death

-A man who changed deserts into agricultural lands in Afghanistan

It has been two years since Dr. Tetsu Nakamura was shot dead on December 4, 2019. The irrigation canal he built watered 16,500 hectares of land, almost half the area of ​​Fukuoka City, turning the desert into green land. It is estimated that 650,000 farmers benefit from this irrigation canal.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who had a retirement ceremony on the 2^nd of December, said, “Where there is a will, a road can be opened.” Nakamura’s achievement was like the words of Chancellor Merkel.

Dr. Nakamura expressed his thoughts on building peace in Afghanistan with the expression “Peace. Life connected by compassion, understanding, and compassion between humans.” Islamic teachings originally preach peace and compassion between people. So, his idea would have been well communicated to the people of Afghanistan who have faith in Islam.

Dr. Nakamura says he wants to help expand the breadbasket in Afghanistan, rather than he himself expand it. A stance that supports the self-help efforts of Afghanistan is necessary, and teaching and remitting Japanese technology is exactly the idea. The emphasis on the self-help efforts of the local people was the opposite of the American war on terrorism, which tried to impose “democracy” with weapons and bullets on Afghan people.

Nakamura said, “Whether the Taliban takes over the government or anti-Taliban forces do, it’s an Afghan internal affair. If you don’t break that stance, no one will attack us. On the contrary, the government, or rebels protect us, “he said. In Afghanistan, as the United States, foreign interference by the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union had led to further social and political instability.

He didn’t like foreign military intervention in Afghanistan, and said “If the definition of terrorism is to involve innocent people in order to achieve political objectives, because the sound of the word ‘terrorist’ has changed recently, there is no more terrorism than the West’s military interventions.” Nakamura often said that Japan’s security legislation, which admits the right of collective self-defense with the US, may be associated with the West’s terrorism.

Manabu Shimizu, a former professor at Hitotsubashi University, says the essence of “The Art of War”, “If you know yourself and know your enemies, there is no danger of a hundred battles.” is based on “a country that independently judges its national interests without being influenced by the outside world.” Shimizu argues that if Japan is participate in the war by the right of collective self-defense, Japan will be involved in a high danger that its control will not work.

Japan does not interfere with internal affairs of the Middle Eastern countries and Nakamura’s Peshawar-kai, JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency), Japan Foundation, and Japanese NGOs in various fields through persistent activities and efforts have gained the trust in the Middle East, increasing the safety of the Japanese. Japanese were harmed by extremists or radicals when Japan cooperated with and supported for US military operations in Iraq and Syria.

Conflicts and violence have swept through countries where US and Western countries intervened by the military, such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Libya. Nakamura’s claims and activities, or the military art of “The Art of War,” should be a lesson that Japan should know in relation to the Middle East.