Mari Murahashi, 50, has spent the last nine years bringing together Israeli and Palestinian students at camps in Japan. She sees it as a small step toward mutual understanding.

Peace Field Japan, an award-winning Tokyo-based nonprofit organization, has invited four high school girls each from Israel and the Palestinian territories to join Japanese students at a two-week camp in Kosuge, Yamanashi Prefecture, every summer since 2007.

In March, it won the Japan Foundation's annual Prize for Global Citizenship. The foundation said the group's activities have helped to lay the foundation for international mutual understanding and therefore have enormous significance for society.