My name is Kentaro Sato and I am a sixth grader. I was born in Germany and grew up in Japan. I am half German and half Japanese.
I thought about world peace.
First of all, I thought about how I can get to know strangers in Japan.
When I meet someone for the first time, I ask them their name, their family structure, what they like, and so on.
Then we would deepen our friendship by playing together at school during breaks and doing extracurricular activities.
Similar to how to make friends in Japan, you can make friends with people from other countries by asking their names, family structures, and favorite things, but before that, you should look for and study a common language. If you cannot speak each other’s language, there is nothing you can do. It doesn’t have to be English, but English is the most spoken language in the world and is also learned in school, so it is a good idea to work on English.
In addition, I also research the culture and manners of the country where the other person lives in advance.
I sometimes accompany my mother on overseas business trips, and she says that by interacting with the local people, eating the food, and seeing the streets, you can get a better feel for the problems and concerns of the country you are visiting.
In fact, at a food stall, we were served meat from the head of a pigeon, which we would not eat in Japan, and we were able to experience the difference in food culture that can only be experienced locally.
For children, once they find a common language, they play together, study together and do common tasks together. And of course, when we ate together, I found that in my case, joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure are generally the same.
For example, all kids find studying a pain in the ass, and the school system is the same. But I also saw differences. In Vietnam, most of them live with their grandparents and are always taken to and from school.
I participate in robotics competitions every year, and now I am participating in one that has a world competition, so in the future I would like to make a team with people from all over the world, actually meet, sleep and eat together, and compete in competitions.
I think there will be differences of opinion in the competition, but that happens even with Japanese friends, so by accepting each other, I think I will be able to understand them better.
The important thing is to actually meet, eat and sleep together, and work on issues. I think this is what makes the world peaceful.