Okinawa Prefecture has given its first award for peace efforts in the Asia-Pacific region to a Fukuoka-based group that provides medical aid and food to people in the border regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Peshawar-kai Medical Service on Tuesday received the inaugural Okinawa Peace Prize, which was established to mark the 30th anniversary of Okinawa's return to Japanese rule in May 1972.
The nongovernmental organization was established in 1984 to support Tetsu Nakamura, 55, a Japanese doctor who treats Hansen's disease patients and others at 11 medical institutions in the two countries.
The NGO provides subsidies and sends personnel, food and other goods to deal with medical problems and refugees there.
Nakamura, who is currently in Afghanistan, said in a written comment sent to the prefecture that he is grateful for the encouragement for his group's work in the war-torn country.
"I feel that our work in Afghanistan, which is so distant from Japan, is actually linked with the prayers for peace from Okinawa and that they are interconnected," he said.
The prize is awarded to individuals or groups for activities to promote peace, nonviolence and mutual respect in fields including music, sports, environmental work and poverty alleviation.
Winners, selected by a committee composed mainly of scholars, receive a 10 million yen cash prize. The committee hopes the prize will be considered East Asia's version of the Nobel Peace Prize.
The secretariat of the prefectural government division promoting peace said earlier that along with an existing peace monument and peace museum the award will become one of three mainstays of Okinawa's peace efforts.