2017: Youth Conference in Kyoto - Einladung

Youth Conference, Kyodan, Japan
in Kyoto 28.3.-1.4.2017

International Youth Conference in Kyoto —
For Aiming to Realize a Sustainable Energy Society


In March 2017, the United Church of Christ in Japan will be hosting “International Youth Conference in Kyoto—For Aiming to Realize a Sustainable Energy Society.” The following is the gist for this conference and its details.

This international conference will be held for a purpose of doing a follow-up on the “International Conference on the East Japan Disaster” that was held in March 2014 in Tohoku Gakuin University in Sendai, hosted by the United Church of Christ in Japan. At the 2014 conference, the following issues were declared:

“We commit ourselves to the following under the guidance of the Holy Spirit:

1. To remember the people of Fukushima as well as all people who, being symbolized by the name Fukushima, have been victims of radiation and acknowledge their right to be protected by sharing their stories. We want to listen with compassion to the voices of the victims of the triple disasters (earthquake, Tsunami, and radioactive contamination), the people who have helped them and still accompany them on the road to recovery.

2. To the rehabilitation and restoration of victims of radiation exposure by helping them to procure radiation meters so that they can take control of their own protection, and affirm their rights to accurate health information, services and just compensation.

3. To value the protection of life and its worth more than economic, political and national interests.

4. To fulfill our responsibilities to future generations by responsible stewardship of all creation.

5. To the abolition of nuclear power plants, nuclear fuel reprocessing facilities and nuclear weapons and to insist that the industry provide a solution capable of isolating the already existing wastes from the environment for the full time frame of their inherent hazards. To prevent the development of technology for future nuclear power sources and to restore lands ravaged by mining in order to produce nuclear fuel.

6. To build a global solidarity network of churches, ecumenical institutes, NGOs and other organizations to gather and share accurate information and support each other in speaking the truth and taking concrete actions to promote a nuclear-free world.

7. To promote and invest in renewable sources of energy and to reduce energy consumption and increase energy efficiency through simpler life-styles.

8. To invest in the future of our youth to train them to assume responsibility to be servant leaders and to educate our churches to promote critical discussion and become agents of change in order to encourage others to see the importance of the issue.”


Conference this time will particularly be aimed at meeting the commitment that was made in the statement under item #8 above.

The conference will focus on addressing issues on situation of nuclear power plants of each country along with their efforts against them, sharing common consensus on how to realize sustainable nuclear-free society and how to propose actions toward this realization. We expect as many youth people, who both obtain theories and practices, as possible to participate. Furthermore, we want to welcome participants who are able to take things that are discussed at the conference back to their respective countries, church districts as well as their own churches to share and take solid actions.

Details for the conference are as follows:

Dates: March 28th (Tue) to 31st (Fri), 2017 (there will be an optional tour/workshop on April 1st (Sat))

Venue: Kyoto, Japan (Kansai Seminar House & Doushisha Kanbaikan)

In this international conference, we are preparing to have 4 sessions with different topics where overseas and local presenters are asked to speak. Those 4 sessions are:
1) Problems of Nuclear Power (Environment, Health, Human Rights, Safety and other perspectives)
2) Anti-Nuclear Power Movements
3) Litigation and Other Legal Measures
4) Efforts of the Church


Each session consists as follows:
* Each session has 60 minutes of presentations (3 presenters). 30 minutes of Q & A will follow.
* Each session has 3 presenters; each presenter has 20 minutes for presentation.

There will be a preliminary program on the first day of the conference at Doushisha University’s Kanbaikan. Keynote lecture will be Dr. Katsuhiro Kohara (Professor of Systematic Theology at Doushisha University), and there will be an interactive presentation by Oshidori Mako & Ken (Comedians with Yoshimoto Creative Agency and the president of NPO Okinawa-Kuminosato).

For further information, please contact the UCCJ office:
Rev. Makoto Iijima, Executive Director: iijima-sec@uccj.org
Please cc to Rev. Nick Iida: wearenickandhannah@gmail.com