Helena Meyer-Knapp

The survey results indicate marked differences between the three countries in the degree to which their travels bring issues of war and peace to mind in students.

In coding for whether students mentioned peace and war in their comments, I was rigorous about restricting “yes” codes to actual mentions of the two words specifically

In collating them as verbal responses I used more generous criteria and also included responses that commented on ways to improve relations between people, and identification of visits to particular sites that have war or peace connotations i.e. the Gettysburg battlefield. By those criteria, Korean comments went from 3 to 8 and American’s comments went from 7 to 51. The Japanese were already so explicit that their totals increased far less — from 71 – 76. I attach a file which lists Final comparative comments on peace,war, and international relations.

Here are a small sample from each group:
Japan 1) History especially the war in Okinawa in detail.

2) In Okinawa, as one of the most damaged cities, I heard the story from a person who lived in wartime. I also went into the bomb shelter. So I learned the horror of war and the importance of peace (life).

3) In Hiroshima I studied about the atomic bomb. I went to the Peace Memorial Museum and heard the story. I had even read the historical sources but couldn’t know the horror of war without visiting there.

4) at the preparation study, we studied the cruel events of war which I did not know yet, and at Okinawa I saw the bomb shelter and the memorial with my own eyes and I feel deeply that we must never make war again.

Korea 1) I saw directly what I learned in the text books (history, sociology class). It was really helpful because I saw it directly rather than unilateral class (teachers => students) instead of only giving lecture.

U.S. 1) Austria — how they had supported Nazi Germany until they were then rewarded @how wrong they were.

2) Washington DC — saw monuments, learned about wars, went to museums, learned about the holocaust.