Hello everyone, I am Louis Kondo,a student of the French International school.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to give a speech in the House of Representatives Hall.
I am going to talk about my vision of peace.
The world has become increasingly cosmopolitan, with an increasing number of children of multiple nationalities and people with close ties to more than one country. I am also half-Japanese, born to an African-French father and a Japanese mother. Some of these people are at war or in a state of tension between their home countries or countries they care about. Some of them may be discriminated against because they are from an enemy country. I think this is very sad and painful.
The peaceful world I envision is a world where countries that care about each other get along well and can laugh at each other heartily by taking each other’s hands.
I think the best way to achieve this is for us, who are familiar with diverse cultures and know the good points of both sides, to become bridges. Building bridges is not just a matter of being a diplomat or a politician. Nowadays, the whole world is connected through the internet, so I think it is possible to use social networking and other means to transmit the culture and attractions of your home country to other home countries and, by extension, to the rest of the world.
For example, in my case, I would like to transmit the good points of French culture to the people of Japan, and the good points of Japanese culture to the people of France and Côte d’Ivoire.
In my opinion, the good things about the Japanese people are their politeness, their trustworthiness, etc.
In fact, my relatives who came to Japan a few years ago were so impressed by the cleanliness of the streets and the kindness of the Japanese people that they became fans of Japan.
I also think that one of the good things about France is its culture of accepting diversity.
I hope that in the future I can bring the world closer to the peace I envision by communicating the charms of my home country.