The 1980 Ramon Magsaysay Award for International Understanding

I am sorry that my father, SHIGEHARU MATSUMOTO, is not physically able to be here to receive in person the 1980 Ramon Magsaysay Award for International Understanding. However, I am highly honored to represent my father as his eldest son, now engaged in the work of international cooperation.

Mr. Chairman, with your kind permission, I will read the response of my father, SHIGEHARU MATSUMOTO.

Half a century ago, in 1929, the third conference of the Institute of Pacific Relations (IPR) was held in Kyoto, the culturally rich and old capital of Japan Assisting Professor Yasaka Takagi, the key member of the Japanese delegation, I served as a very junior staff member at that conference. There I met delegates from seven countries located in the Pacific basin. Among them was the late John D. Rockefeller 3rd, a junior member of the U.S. delegation, and Dr. and Mrs. Conrado Benitez from the Philippines. Attending the conference I was led to realize the existence of many worlds other than my own and this experience kindled a dream in my heart, the dream of devoting my life to building a base for international understanding somewhere in my own country. It took nearly 30 years before this dream came true in the form of a place called The International House of Japan.

During those 30 years my dream suffered a succession of failures. I spent six years as a journalist in Shanghai. Despite all I had done, war came in China, then in the Pacific; and it was brought home to me how powerless a single individual is against waves sweeping all of us to tragedy. However I never abandoned my belief in the value of individual human dignity, nor did I give up my belief in the human capacity to accommodate different views, ideas and faiths in the search for means of peaceful coexistence. I believe one of the most effective means for attaining such accommodation is creative, mutual borrowing that strengthens awareness of shared values.

In 1952, with support from many friends at home and abroad, including our mutual friend the late John D. Rockefeller 3rd, I managed to establish The International House of Japan. This nongovernmental institution was and is committed to cultural exchange and intellectual cooperation. More concretely, it is intended to help individuals of differing cultural background, religious affiliation, and political outlook develop closer understanding through personal contact in an atmosphere of openminded reflection and mutual respect. I recall a remark made by a close friend when I was launching The International House: "You're a fool to try to dry up the Pacific Ocean with a tea cup, but I respect you for trying." This comment convinced me that I'd rather be a fool than sit and do nothing.

Looking at what is actually happening in the world today, we should not be blind to the commonality of those human aspirations which have guided human destiny in the past and which will, I hope, continue to guide it in the future. Today I humbly accept this honor, not for the little I have done thus far, but to encourage the generations that follow us to carry on the unfinished task of one who cared for all peoples as individuals and believed in their dignity and personal freedom, the late Ramon Magsaysay.